<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:blogger='http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005" xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789</id><updated>2024-11-01T05:50:36.954-06:00</updated><category term="ps3"/><category term="rpg"/><category term="want"/><category term="flash"/><category term="rant"/><category term="fallout"/><category term="free"/><category term="adventure"/><category term="dlc"/><category term="demo"/><category term="console"/><category term="platformer"/><category term="great story"/><category term="nintendo"/><category term="bioware"/><category term="sandbox game"/><category term="silly"/><category term="fps"/><category term="interactive fiction"/><category term="meh"/><category term="nostalgia"/><category term="puzzle"/><category term="bethesda"/><category term="final fantasy"/><category term="funny"/><category term="gay"/><category term="graphics"/><category term="wii"/><category term="coffee"/><category term="news"/><category term="trophies"/><category term="action"/><category term="minecraft"/><category term="books"/><category term="dragon age"/><category term="fantasy"/><category term="good deal"/><category term="ipad app"/><category term="portal"/><category term="smart"/><category term="steam"/><category term="talking to myself"/><category term="art"/><category term="comic"/><category term="cute"/><category term="disappoint"/><category term="economics"/><category term="iPhone"/><category term="launch game"/><category term="pc"/><category term="resource management"/><category term="wtf"/><category term="zelda"/><category term="app"/><category term="begging"/><category term="bioshock"/><category term="gba"/><category term="l.a. noire"/><category term="nuka break"/><category term="reading"/><category term="rockstar"/><category term="sequel"/><category term="shump"/><category term="space"/><category term="statistics"/><category term="sucker punch"/><category term="television"/><category term="the letter k"/><category term="tower defense"/><category term="ds"/><category term="family"/><category term="harry potter"/><category term="indie game"/><category term="infamous"/><category term="jealous"/><category term="kirby"/><category term="podcasts"/><category term="school spirit"/><category term="sim"/><category term="snes"/><category term="social work"/><category term="star trek"/><category term="strategy"/><category term="suspicious"/><category term="video"/><category term="ace attorney"/><category term="angst"/><category term="awards"/><category term="bad drawings"/><category term="calming"/><category term="castlevania"/><category term="cat"/><category term="charity"/><category term="chess"/><category term="civilization"/><category term="disney"/><category term="dragons"/><category term="education"/><category term="farming"/><category term="fighting game"/><category term="fitness game"/><category term="food"/><category term="gameswap"/><category term="georgia"/><category term="handheld"/><category term="heavy"/><category term="joss whedon"/><category term="jrpg"/><category term="littlebigplanet"/><category term="mario"/><category term="mass effect"/><category term="math"/><category term="metroid"/><category term="moogles"/><category term="morning games"/><category term="movie"/><category term="music"/><category term="naughty dog"/><category term="pokemon"/><category term="politics"/><category term="reddit"/><category term="replay"/><category term="sad"/><category term="swapping"/><category term="the letter q"/><category term="unt"/><category term="wii fit"/><title type='text'>dmuma</title><subtitle type='html'>I review, preview, and wax poetic about the things that interest me: video games, coffee, the world.</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default?redirect=false'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><link rel='next' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default?start-index=26&amp;max-results=25&amp;redirect=false'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>165</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-4064637999634481674</id><published>2013-01-26T16:12:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2013-04-27T16:15:07.106-06:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="bioware"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="console"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="great story"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="interactive fiction"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="mass effect"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="rpg"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="sandbox game"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="smart"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="space"/><title type='text'>Mass Effect</title><content type='html'>I&amp;#39;ve come a long way on the notion of shooting things.  I really preferred my games with more slashing and less shooting.  Shooting requires precision, patience, planning... slashing a sword only requires - well, slashing.  But I&amp;#39;ve found that I have increasingly and increasingly been evolving to enjoy active combat and a weapon that can aim.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
The &lt;i&gt;Mass Effect &lt;/i&gt;series were the games that put Bioware on the map: a space opera series about Commander Shepard, human extraordinaire, and his ragtag group of adventurers.  Having finally been re-released for the PS3, the time was ripe to play and enjoy the series.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5w1CnXq00JEnBJnXgM6rtgSshVmS3Du_u9y7Qb9VmKgcCiTzKOxQN1tRVTJtSEMIXJ_yGta8ef0BNFOQ6FKSWqU39ELXNFkVr5C_e6RBdF5MLVm-nwRfl-DDbiRDccSxHibKnIFFEJCQ/s1600/mespoilers.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;150&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5w1CnXq00JEnBJnXgM6rtgSshVmS3Du_u9y7Qb9VmKgcCiTzKOxQN1tRVTJtSEMIXJ_yGta8ef0BNFOQ6FKSWqU39ELXNFkVr5C_e6RBdF5MLVm-nwRfl-DDbiRDccSxHibKnIFFEJCQ/s400/mespoilers.png&quot; width=&quot;400&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2013/01/mass-effect.html#more&quot;&gt;Hit the Jump! &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/4064637999634481674/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2013/01/mass-effect.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/4064637999634481674'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/4064637999634481674'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2013/01/mass-effect.html' title='Mass Effect'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5w1CnXq00JEnBJnXgM6rtgSshVmS3Du_u9y7Qb9VmKgcCiTzKOxQN1tRVTJtSEMIXJ_yGta8ef0BNFOQ6FKSWqU39ELXNFkVr5C_e6RBdF5MLVm-nwRfl-DDbiRDccSxHibKnIFFEJCQ/s72-c/mespoilers.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-8060958630469741088</id><published>2013-01-06T15:33:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2013-04-27T15:34:06.630-06:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="bioshock"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="dlc"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="great story"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="ps3"/><title type='text'>Bioshock 2: Minerva&#39;s Den</title><content type='html'>&lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSl1cf2n2RLU32q_pTh12Ddo28GJt_2RtpNfLq_68XC6xJL8g7fjkB-WnhXQ4KWv_P6q03nEuIv6pB2BV6uQ9qcAmnwBkY5mMf3Dgr68wd3wpV8SjjZAdAa7JKkX14kJqS1Ybcv6RqvJE/s1600/MinervasDen.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;220&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSl1cf2n2RLU32q_pTh12Ddo28GJt_2RtpNfLq_68XC6xJL8g7fjkB-WnhXQ4KWv_P6q03nEuIv6pB2BV6uQ9qcAmnwBkY5mMf3Dgr68wd3wpV8SjjZAdAa7JKkX14kJqS1Ybcv6RqvJE/s320/MinervasDen.png&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Lasers and gravity, oh my!&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
While it certainly was a long time since &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/07/bioshock-2.html&quot;&gt;Bioshock 2&lt;/a&gt; came out, I finally found time to play through the &lt;i&gt;Minerva&#39;s Den&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;DLC (&lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/07/bioshock-2-dlc-50-off-on-playstation.html&quot;&gt;even though I purchased it nearly a year and half ago&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The add-on tells a completely unrelated story of an Alpha Series Big Daddy, Subject Sigma. &amp;nbsp;As Sigma, you are lead through the three-levels by C.M. Porter, the proclaimed designer of &quot;The Thinker,&quot; the punch-card computer which controls operations of the underwater city of Rapture. &amp;nbsp;Things in this part of the city aren&#39;t much different from the rest of the dystopian waterworld: Splicers (so named for their history of splicing their DNA with ADAM) are running the asylum.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
One new add in this DLC is a new type of Big Daddy, the Lancer, and its unique weapon, a laser. &amp;nbsp;It&#39;s a fun add, and the Lancer is no joke to defeat. &amp;nbsp;The other add is a new plasmid: Gravity Well. &amp;nbsp;It&#39;s a game-breaking method of dealing with the Splicers, but useless against heavier hitters. &amp;nbsp;It also is a huge suck on the graphics capacity of my PS3, causing the game to freeze once.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The story of C.M. Porter and Reed Hall (his spliced-up, crazy rival) is very engaging, helped by familiar audio diaries that are scattered throughout the levels. &amp;nbsp;The story rivals Bioshock 2&#39;s main story, which is universally despised. &amp;nbsp;The entire thing unfolds over two sittings, 6-8 hours depending on your play style.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
If you&#39;ve picked up Bioshock 2 recently, it may have included the DLC - but if you have it&amp;nbsp;sitting&amp;nbsp;around and you haven&#39;t, it was well worth what I spent.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/8060958630469741088/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2013/01/bioshock-2-minervas-den.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/8060958630469741088'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/8060958630469741088'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2013/01/bioshock-2-minervas-den.html' title='Bioshock 2: Minerva&#39;s Den'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSl1cf2n2RLU32q_pTh12Ddo28GJt_2RtpNfLq_68XC6xJL8g7fjkB-WnhXQ4KWv_P6q03nEuIv6pB2BV6uQ9qcAmnwBkY5mMf3Dgr68wd3wpV8SjjZAdAa7JKkX14kJqS1Ybcv6RqvJE/s72-c/MinervasDen.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-5656725563348186614</id><published>2012-12-31T19:30:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2013-02-16T11:20:12.216-07:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="angst"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="jrpg"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="rpg"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="space"/><title type='text'>Star Ocean: The Last Hope (International)</title><content type='html'>&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoLPMD7L_Wt1UbY2pzANDonma9m5Ijei0QiBtTkUQ_m8tx2c9YXjRmoF_imVIvkYUCUJQ0Z69gINp4YQ9rg3z_4s42TppM44BC5CWQT6XlWEoMQAWB3KKcRNnAZvgW-WhZEq9ZGXqfxzw/s1600/SO-TLHI.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;191&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoLPMD7L_Wt1UbY2pzANDonma9m5Ijei0QiBtTkUQ_m8tx2c9YXjRmoF_imVIvkYUCUJQ0Z69gINp4YQ9rg3z_4s42TppM44BC5CWQT6XlWEoMQAWB3KKcRNnAZvgW-WhZEq9ZGXqfxzw/s320/SO-TLHI.png&quot; width=&quot;320&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Space Opera&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
Star Ocean: &amp;#39;Til The End of Time was my first experience with the Star Ocean games, and was a great introduction to the series.  The Last Hope is a lot like &amp;#39;Til the End of Time; you can read more about it after the jump...&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/12/star-ocean-last-hope-international.html#more&quot;&gt;Hit the Jump! &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/5656725563348186614/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/12/star-ocean-last-hope-international.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/5656725563348186614'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/5656725563348186614'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/12/star-ocean-last-hope-international.html' title='Star Ocean: The Last Hope (International)'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoLPMD7L_Wt1UbY2pzANDonma9m5Ijei0QiBtTkUQ_m8tx2c9YXjRmoF_imVIvkYUCUJQ0Z69gINp4YQ9rg3z_4s42TppM44BC5CWQT6XlWEoMQAWB3KKcRNnAZvgW-WhZEq9ZGXqfxzw/s72-c/SO-TLHI.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-9208473169504616810</id><published>2012-12-09T09:56:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2013-02-16T10:26:49.034-07:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="fantasy"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="final fantasy"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="music"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="ps3"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="rpg"/><title type='text'>Final Fantasy XIII-2</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMpHf47S9K7YKTPx-5SNQsVCpDc3BnTJRBsHGJ6aEJLXFHgi1zlAxdBhbr-lUKAD5sbuP130rhYvTh347xwAiw2n-nvWhgA-xyRRlW4FEPpQ155LBrScoCVuv4iNkuHiOze-WeqZ8NMsE/s1600/final-fantasy-xiii-2-logo-530px.jpeg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;135&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMpHf47S9K7YKTPx-5SNQsVCpDc3BnTJRBsHGJ6aEJLXFHgi1zlAxdBhbr-lUKAD5sbuP130rhYvTh347xwAiw2n-nvWhgA-xyRRlW4FEPpQ155LBrScoCVuv4iNkuHiOze-WeqZ8NMsE/s200/final-fantasy-xiii-2-logo-530px.jpeg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
Let&amp;#39;s not kid ourselves.  I was &lt;b&gt;not&lt;/b&gt; the biggest fan of &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/03/final-fantasy-xiii.html&quot;&gt;Final Fantasy XIII&lt;/a&gt; when it first appeared, but a &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/lightning-strikes-twice-second-chance.html&quot;&gt;second play through&lt;/a&gt; really made me appreciate the game.  And even my first inclinations with its sequel (&lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/demo-final-fantasy-xiii-2.html&quot;&gt;in demo form&lt;/a&gt;) were positive.  So how did Final Fantasy the Thirteenth Part 2 fair?  Hit the jump for the full details...&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/12/final-fantasy-xiii-2.html#more&quot;&gt;Hit the Jump! &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/9208473169504616810/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/12/final-fantasy-xiii-2.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/9208473169504616810'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/9208473169504616810'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/12/final-fantasy-xiii-2.html' title='Final Fantasy XIII-2'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMpHf47S9K7YKTPx-5SNQsVCpDc3BnTJRBsHGJ6aEJLXFHgi1zlAxdBhbr-lUKAD5sbuP130rhYvTh347xwAiw2n-nvWhgA-xyRRlW4FEPpQ155LBrScoCVuv4iNkuHiOze-WeqZ8NMsE/s72-c/final-fantasy-xiii-2-logo-530px.jpeg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-7230182103382371650</id><published>2012-10-10T17:30:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2013-02-16T10:55:03.324-07:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="adventure"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="infamous"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="platformer"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="sequel"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="sucker punch"/><title type='text'>inFAMOUS 2</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh65DMNqXiGTPm9TcSY2u-a3qN8UFN1haU6MgYSc6p0JyzO2CyvDn6jl21-qtdH3ZN3Y3-BbYo1MAQhDTjzb-GfBePv3gEdng8RxrfM2CjBPfsqOfhBKB0Tvy4xNheQCwwSMWEwtsU1gjw/s1600/i2_logo.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;225&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh65DMNqXiGTPm9TcSY2u-a3qN8UFN1haU6MgYSc6p0JyzO2CyvDn6jl21-qtdH3ZN3Y3-BbYo1MAQhDTjzb-GfBePv3gEdng8RxrfM2CjBPfsqOfhBKB0Tvy4xNheQCwwSMWEwtsU1gjw/s400/i2_logo.jpg&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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Listen, if you liked &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/06/infamous.html&quot;&gt;inFAMOUS&lt;/a&gt;, I have very little notion why you wouldn&#39;t enjoy inFAMOUS 2.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Cole McGrath, everyday-courier-turned-electric-conduit continues his adventures, now&amp;nbsp;confronted&amp;nbsp;with a monstrous beast which has destroyed whatever New York is being called these days. &amp;nbsp;The beast sucks all of Cole&#39;s powers away (how &lt;i&gt;convenient&lt;/i&gt;) and Cole and friends head to whatever New Orleans is being called these days.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The games has learned its lessons from inFAMOUS prime. &amp;nbsp;If nothing else, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/05/27&quot;&gt;the issue with chain-link fences&lt;/a&gt; has been addressed. &amp;nbsp;In fact, the environments are much more strongly involved in gameplay. &amp;nbsp;Combat remains nearly identical: you shoot lightning out of your hands, your powers increase with time, etc.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The other &quot;lesson learned&quot; is that blast shards are increasingly easier to find, which is to say that it is still a bit of a pain in the neck, but not the &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-S-eWFBEtRHm4e1GoCpAzq07aXaNvuSsA2Ndwzote4tBg6pkDdSSfiQgk-3YOK6zxaThw9F-aZ2VKOOAyFz6rUFQzdnHHXMjW9MBAtnkIENp1vOFQ3oKcHrs5einRY4gQ4lh3xB9DpPg/s1600/infamousplatinum.png&quot;&gt;14-month WHERE-IS-IT endeavor that inFAMOUS presented to me to &lt;i&gt;finally&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;Platinum the game&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEEWMs8WRdUYCw8Lj8SNvvawp8y0yU3PnftDNxqHwTiO9_y9CoeYbQTOUKngBIIZwTNbUlIhk6c5LxA5rn9fpdG35w4qmfwZHrq8cXjUyx4BhF-sAIkZr3wfJnkBeqL9i5tZxSfQYObcs/s1600/nixandkuo.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;194&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEEWMs8WRdUYCw8Lj8SNvvawp8y0yU3PnftDNxqHwTiO9_y9CoeYbQTOUKngBIIZwTNbUlIhk6c5LxA5rn9fpdG35w4qmfwZHrq8cXjUyx4BhF-sAIkZr3wfJnkBeqL9i5tZxSfQYObcs/s320/nixandkuo.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
This time around, morality is linked to which of the two ladies in the game you&#39;d like to ally yourself to. &amp;nbsp;The crazy, chaotic Nix or the straight-laced Kuo. &amp;nbsp;Much as women are keen to do, there are betrayals and hurt-feelings and &quot;come-rescue-me&quot; moments. &amp;nbsp;But this is a video game, after all, not a treatise on feminism.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The choices remain as unsubtle as ever. &amp;nbsp;Save the orphans, burn the orphans, etc.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
But the game is certainly fun to play and enjoyable to complete the quests that the game presents. &amp;nbsp;The difficulty amps up a couple times, especially with certain bosses that you experience.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The simple end to this review is this: it&#39;s like inFAMOUS, only twoier.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/7230182103382371650/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/10/infamous-2.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/7230182103382371650'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/7230182103382371650'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/10/infamous-2.html' title='inFAMOUS 2'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh65DMNqXiGTPm9TcSY2u-a3qN8UFN1haU6MgYSc6p0JyzO2CyvDn6jl21-qtdH3ZN3Y3-BbYo1MAQhDTjzb-GfBePv3gEdng8RxrfM2CjBPfsqOfhBKB0Tvy4xNheQCwwSMWEwtsU1gjw/s72-c/i2_logo.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-4692510875534042074</id><published>2012-10-01T19:04:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2013-02-16T09:54:51.137-07:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="adventure"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="bethesda"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="dragons"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="graphics"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="rpg"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="sandbox game"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="statistics"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="trophies"/><title type='text'>Skyrim</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5qj8WxD94F-OzYVB2exZBDmcrvm2TI_iyQ-SEf3TMkew8wG917IstXLSBNqP-OI0Bwlzojm5ntT1dL1QaW7FQB55Ae-RrB5ham7XOukLbNnyulair12GLysWy19MqXR5ezmK7WpACHuc/s1600/SKY1.jpeg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;170&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5qj8WxD94F-OzYVB2exZBDmcrvm2TI_iyQ-SEf3TMkew8wG917IstXLSBNqP-OI0Bwlzojm5ntT1dL1QaW7FQB55Ae-RrB5ham7XOukLbNnyulair12GLysWy19MqXR5ezmK7WpACHuc/s320/SKY1.jpeg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;i&gt;Skyrim&lt;/i&gt;, or more completely, &lt;i&gt;The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;continues the story of imprisoned-and-then-freed&amp;nbsp;destiny-bound heroes of Tamriel, this time located in the frigid north, titular region: Skyrim.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The game was &lt;b&gt;dense&lt;/b&gt;, as was the first draft of this review, which I have subsequently broken up into 5 entries (seriously). &amp;nbsp;Today&#39;s post looking at the main story and game mechanics, and subsequent posts dedicated to all the shit that got done in the name of collecting the sweet, sweet platinum trophy.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;i&gt;In media res&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;being a bit of a gameplay-must these days, you start the game as an imprisoned man/woman/whatever on your way to the chopping block - the &lt;i&gt;head&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;chopping block - when you are serendipitously saved by the arrival of a fire-breathing dragon. &amp;nbsp;Amidst the chaos and fear of behading/being eaten by a dragon, you select your character&#39;s gender, race, and&amp;nbsp;appearance. &amp;nbsp;Unlike&lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/12/elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion-goty.html&quot;&gt; the fourth &lt;i&gt;Elder Scrolls&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;entrant&lt;/a&gt;, you do not select a sign, have specifically anointed skills, or any of the other things that made that game have an astounding 743 sextillion (a lot) character builds.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtAHdubisoqqMrWZCQPVdPhg8Y9x_7-gJxlcDDw-wnb0Gu9KBOtQq3F0li2Y3yCk92Kkh1DOfVGwixPKdBa-Ah5bes5epG5IVV7iUgaVuINbTj765-URNBFfyFMNjpvaf3B9pACek2hCY/s1600/Picture+4.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;176&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtAHdubisoqqMrWZCQPVdPhg8Y9x_7-gJxlcDDw-wnb0Gu9KBOtQq3F0li2Y3yCk92Kkh1DOfVGwixPKdBa-Ah5bes5epG5IVV7iUgaVuINbTj765-URNBFfyFMNjpvaf3B9pACek2hCY/s320/Picture+4.png&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;The undead are a frequent encounter.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
While skills continue to increase as you use them, the leveling system has been redesigned. &amp;nbsp;Now, gaining progress in &lt;i&gt;any&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;skill will move you towards a level-up, wherein you can increase your health, magicka (magic health), or stamina (swinging axe health). &amp;nbsp;Upon gaining a level, you are also able to select a perk from one of the skill areas, granted you have reached the requisite experience with that skill. &amp;nbsp;There are 251 perks in &lt;i&gt;Skyrim&lt;/i&gt;, of which you may&amp;nbsp;feasibly select 81 (essentially the &quot;level cap&quot;). &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I decided to put my perks into archery, sneaking, light armor, and Illusion-magic, which you think might have been setting myself up to be a total badass ninja, but I still chose to confront most conflicts at high velocity while spamming the attack key.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Combat is relatively unchanged from &lt;i&gt;Oblivion&lt;/i&gt;, with the main exception in that you can wield magic while simultaneously wielding a weapon, or wield two spells at once. &amp;nbsp;Spells have also been pretty well nerfed, only dealing a set amount of damage and not able to be customized (a la &lt;i&gt;Oblivion)&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
So, fresh off of not-being-killed-by-a-dragon, you are given the same mind-numbing freedom common to the Bethesda games: you could literally do &lt;i&gt;anything&lt;/i&gt;. &amp;nbsp;Only a few story-related areas are blocked off, and to be honest - it&#39;s nearly impossible to find them, as there is just so much else to do. &amp;nbsp;The game improves upon &lt;i&gt;Oblivion&#39;s&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;compass system, and exploration begins to be &quot;just... one... more... area...&quot; and before you know it, you&#39;ve mapped most of the locations in Skyrim.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-AciUV27b8AONKgcaPrkB8NJW_H4J3o0v2m54Iwj_NZJdYVWgR5diU42O1nsfsCAg0dlxmmjphLOVLpt7hd6lU9rBnn-vbBz4pS5lNkUX5TPIZqpU8brvp9sQuRpGiFjXCQSPg7zJVdo/s1600/Picture+3.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;282&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-AciUV27b8AONKgcaPrkB8NJW_H4J3o0v2m54Iwj_NZJdYVWgR5diU42O1nsfsCAg0dlxmmjphLOVLpt7hd6lU9rBnn-vbBz4pS5lNkUX5TPIZqpU8brvp9sQuRpGiFjXCQSPg7zJVdo/s320/Picture+3.png&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Oh hey girl, lemme shout at you.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
Anyway, it just so happens that you are a Dragonborn, a rare 1%-er, born once in every few generations who can absorb the souls of dragons and focus those souls into powerful Thu&#39;ums, or shouts. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
While dialogue with townsfolk may lead you to believe that dragons are rare sights anywhere in Tamriel, the reality is that the whole place is lousy with dragons. &amp;nbsp;And they are dragons: they eat townspeople and their steeds,&amp;nbsp;devastate&amp;nbsp;farms and hovels, and will fuck you up if you aren&#39;t equipped with enough healing potions to ward off the&amp;nbsp;inevitable&amp;nbsp;crispy feelings of being burned to death.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
One dragon, in particular, plays your chief nemesis. &amp;nbsp;His purpose is straight black and white fantasy: he destroys worlds. &amp;nbsp;It&#39;s almost refreshing to meet a bad-guy who is really bad. &amp;nbsp;No tortured childhood. &amp;nbsp;No on-the-fence attitude. &amp;nbsp;Dude just wants to obliterate existence. &amp;nbsp;I can respect that.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The game is great, though the story does have some pacing issues, common to the robust world games like &lt;i&gt;Skyrim&lt;/i&gt;. &amp;nbsp;And that&#39;s just the main story. &amp;nbsp;It was definitely worth the 80 hours I sunk into it, and definitely worth a platinum run.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioey3gVN2ksjeH3pQDnZNVhEy7FgXybuP1P95kfMWy55AjccjF2wgaCFXG_zOOEuxKJkpsgunGWS52JINAugmRlpKzBiXhBDsNfwg6LpcN0v5trJ6ddH1shmZpqh-B-WEM1RaFCUP0ADM/s1600/Picture+1.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;146&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioey3gVN2ksjeH3pQDnZNVhEy7FgXybuP1P95kfMWy55AjccjF2wgaCFXG_zOOEuxKJkpsgunGWS52JINAugmRlpKzBiXhBDsNfwg6LpcN0v5trJ6ddH1shmZpqh-B-WEM1RaFCUP0ADM/s400/Picture+1.png&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Always worth it. &amp;nbsp;Always.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/4692510875534042074/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/10/skyrim.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/4692510875534042074'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/4692510875534042074'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/10/skyrim.html' title='Skyrim'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5qj8WxD94F-OzYVB2exZBDmcrvm2TI_iyQ-SEf3TMkew8wG917IstXLSBNqP-OI0Bwlzojm5ntT1dL1QaW7FQB55Ae-RrB5ham7XOukLbNnyulair12GLysWy19MqXR5ezmK7WpACHuc/s72-c/SKY1.jpeg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-8140984287751234713</id><published>2012-09-29T12:16:00.002-06:00</published><updated>2012-09-29T12:16:48.842-06:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="cute"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="demo"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="ps3"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="puzzle"/><title type='text'>Demo: Warp</title><content type='html'>&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTiVKKT1QRoDzXZvqGvuEBQFtcv1rEprYuZzEx8eZB7etPQTpTrVsixXc3ZLSjgUjjX1-wLzsWy4m86j-IA0Zf5mUwbTjcUo5goE9nQYPUB6UvwNuMRppPW4Eu44whWusoaPRdzFNlNbw/s1600/warp.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;177&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTiVKKT1QRoDzXZvqGvuEBQFtcv1rEprYuZzEx8eZB7etPQTpTrVsixXc3ZLSjgUjjX1-wLzsWy4m86j-IA0Zf5mUwbTjcUo5goE9nQYPUB6UvwNuMRppPW4Eu44whWusoaPRdzFNlNbw/s320/warp.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Warp. &amp;nbsp;Cute alien dude.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;i&gt;Warp&lt;/i&gt;, available for consoles and on Steam, had a nice little demo wherein you play a tiny alien escaping your human captors. &amp;nbsp;Your ability? &amp;nbsp;You can warp forward a small amount of space (through walls, if need be) and into small items and ... unfortunately for them ... your human captors. &amp;nbsp;While the demo was fun, it wasn&#39;t knocking my socks off, so I recommend a pass on this one.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Note: despite the immense cuteness of the alien, the game introduced itself as having &quot;blood and gore,&quot; and I understood why after I warped into a human and moved around, causing him to explode. &amp;nbsp;Oops.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/8140984287751234713/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/09/demo-warp.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/8140984287751234713'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/8140984287751234713'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/09/demo-warp.html' title='Demo: Warp'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTiVKKT1QRoDzXZvqGvuEBQFtcv1rEprYuZzEx8eZB7etPQTpTrVsixXc3ZLSjgUjjX1-wLzsWy4m86j-IA0Zf5mUwbTjcUo5goE9nQYPUB6UvwNuMRppPW4Eu44whWusoaPRdzFNlNbw/s72-c/warp.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-3205104783694870481</id><published>2012-08-24T10:58:00.001-06:00</published><updated>2012-08-24T10:58:17.770-06:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="flash"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="launch game"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="politics"/><title type='text'>Flash Game Friday: Politricks</title><content type='html'>&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWncLOhh3Uvx1wUbGlgtl90C5NMxKkGvg5U8qlzQN97mW8-_HilP_YsZ-BU6Laoj8r87E-68TYdxE7F2ayxTkEFmqYtTo0fg8Sg9sEH2xkTkNU6bzJDF-lMC9gDFuBgflyL4Yk130M-do/s1600/Picture+5.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;216&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWncLOhh3Uvx1wUbGlgtl90C5NMxKkGvg5U8qlzQN97mW8-_HilP_YsZ-BU6Laoj8r87E-68TYdxE7F2ayxTkEFmqYtTo0fg8Sg9sEH2xkTkNU6bzJDF-lMC9gDFuBgflyL4Yk130M-do/s320/Picture+5.png&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Just Pres. Obama - doing what he does.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
Sometimes you need a launch game, and sometimes that game can be loosely based on a economic crisis in the United States. &amp;nbsp;But in a launch game, you solve the problem by being on a pogo stick. &amp;nbsp;This is the very fiber of why flash games are awesome stretches in human logic.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
So here&#39;s &lt;a href=&quot;http://jozogames.com/action/politricks&quot;&gt;Politricks&lt;/a&gt;. &amp;nbsp;It&#39;s silly fun. &amp;nbsp;The upgrades are what you would expect to find in a launch game (go further, jump higher, use a kite, make more supporters appear).&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
If you&#39;re into launch games, this is a political based no-brainer. &amp;nbsp;You don&#39;t even need to understand &quot;legitimate rape&quot; or &quot;struggle snuggles&quot; or &quot;tax documents.&quot; &amp;nbsp;Just click and twirl and rake in the dough to save Uncle Sam!</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/3205104783694870481/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/flash-game-friday-politricks.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/3205104783694870481'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/3205104783694870481'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/flash-game-friday-politricks.html' title='Flash Game Friday: Politricks'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWncLOhh3Uvx1wUbGlgtl90C5NMxKkGvg5U8qlzQN97mW8-_HilP_YsZ-BU6Laoj8r87E-68TYdxE7F2ayxTkEFmqYtTo0fg8Sg9sEH2xkTkNU6bzJDF-lMC9gDFuBgflyL4Yk130M-do/s72-c/Picture+5.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-8321295797268243489</id><published>2012-08-18T10:45:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2013-02-16T10:46:16.080-07:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="infamous"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="sucker punch"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="trophies"/><title type='text'>FINALLY</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-S-eWFBEtRHm4e1GoCpAzq07aXaNvuSsA2Ndwzote4tBg6pkDdSSfiQgk-3YOK6zxaThw9F-aZ2VKOOAyFz6rUFQzdnHHXMjW9MBAtnkIENp1vOFQ3oKcHrs5einRY4gQ4lh3xB9DpPg/s1600/infamousplatinum.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;113&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-S-eWFBEtRHm4e1GoCpAzq07aXaNvuSsA2Ndwzote4tBg6pkDdSSfiQgk-3YOK6zxaThw9F-aZ2VKOOAyFz6rUFQzdnHHXMjW9MBAtnkIENp1vOFQ3oKcHrs5einRY4gQ4lh3xB9DpPg/s400/infamousplatinum.png&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/8321295797268243489/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/finally.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/8321295797268243489'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/8321295797268243489'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/finally.html' title='FINALLY'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-S-eWFBEtRHm4e1GoCpAzq07aXaNvuSsA2Ndwzote4tBg6pkDdSSfiQgk-3YOK6zxaThw9F-aZ2VKOOAyFz6rUFQzdnHHXMjW9MBAtnkIENp1vOFQ3oKcHrs5einRY4gQ4lh3xB9DpPg/s72-c/infamousplatinum.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-217607465857958176</id><published>2012-08-17T10:56:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2012-08-17T10:56:08.172-06:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="fallout"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="flash"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="free"/><title type='text'>Flash Game Friday: Nuclear Plant</title><content type='html'>&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd44AC2890YWuP_Lt9KTIdrk_EcRFhCKrtSABF47Y6Y0fc2_MQ8W5V7-y-F7INXXXaqebHOyEVZ2f7P-syq44imknVnsQSOKszeGnrZIWnUChm9UD22aLCOQujxMBmL49Vbwz2Jkw5l1o/s1600/Picture+2.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;190&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd44AC2890YWuP_Lt9KTIdrk_EcRFhCKrtSABF47Y6Y0fc2_MQ8W5V7-y-F7INXXXaqebHOyEVZ2f7P-syq44imknVnsQSOKszeGnrZIWnUChm9UD22aLCOQujxMBmL49Vbwz2Jkw5l1o/s320/Picture+2.png&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;The monsters are coming.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.clockworkmonster.com/613-Nuclear-Plant&quot;&gt;Nuclear Plant&lt;/a&gt; is the tale of a war ravaged society trying to nurture the single last plant alive in order to save humanity. &amp;nbsp;You play an unnamed scientist/badass who must resurrect the plant. &amp;nbsp;Unfortunately, you are constantly swarmed by mutated creatures who are trying to impede your progress. &amp;nbsp;Why? &amp;nbsp;Because it&#39;s a flash game!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The game play is half platform-y, half point and shoot. &amp;nbsp;You control your character by using the arrow keys (or the ASWD), but aim and shoot using the mouse. &amp;nbsp;Uniterrupted time at the Laboratory is used to build your skills (e.g. more health regeneration, better accuracy) and killing mutated monsters yields cash to buy new guns (from - where?).&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It&#39;s fun, and short, though it took a couple of game overs until I got the hang of it. &amp;nbsp;Enjoy!</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/217607465857958176/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/flash-game-friday-nuclear-plant.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/217607465857958176'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/217607465857958176'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/flash-game-friday-nuclear-plant.html' title='Flash Game Friday: Nuclear Plant'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd44AC2890YWuP_Lt9KTIdrk_EcRFhCKrtSABF47Y6Y0fc2_MQ8W5V7-y-F7INXXXaqebHOyEVZ2f7P-syq44imknVnsQSOKszeGnrZIWnUChm9UD22aLCOQujxMBmL49Vbwz2Jkw5l1o/s72-c/Picture+2.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-637547358721966390</id><published>2012-08-14T11:03:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2012-08-14T11:03:06.982-06:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="demo"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="final fantasy"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="moogles"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="ps3"/><title type='text'>Demo: Final Fantasy XIII-2</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMpHf47S9K7YKTPx-5SNQsVCpDc3BnTJRBsHGJ6aEJLXFHgi1zlAxdBhbr-lUKAD5sbuP130rhYvTh347xwAiw2n-nvWhgA-xyRRlW4FEPpQ155LBrScoCVuv4iNkuHiOze-WeqZ8NMsE/s1600/final-fantasy-xiii-2-logo-530px.jpeg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;216&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMpHf47S9K7YKTPx-5SNQsVCpDc3BnTJRBsHGJ6aEJLXFHgi1zlAxdBhbr-lUKAD5sbuP130rhYvTh347xwAiw2n-nvWhgA-xyRRlW4FEPpQ155LBrScoCVuv4iNkuHiOze-WeqZ8NMsE/s320/final-fantasy-xiii-2-logo-530px.jpeg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Now that I can - in confidence - say that I am &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/things-that-are-ingots-things-that-are.html&quot;&gt;completely done&lt;/a&gt; with &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/lightning-strikes-twice-second-chance.html&quot;&gt;Final Fantasy XIII&lt;/a&gt;, I decided to go a round with its sequel, for which a demo was available on the PSN.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The story takes place a few years after the events of &lt;i&gt;Final Fantasy XIII&lt;/i&gt;, and you play as Serah (the sister of Lightning, FFXIII&#39;s version of Cloud) and a mysterious young man named Noel. &amp;nbsp;In the demo, you play in Chapter 2 - which is - you know - some stuff has already happened, so it&#39;s hard to really say, but Serah and Noel seem to be time travelers.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Anyway, in the demo you have to beat this weird, shifty giant thing - a paradox - who is struggling into this part of time.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The battle system is mostly the same as FF13. &amp;nbsp;Serah and Noel can enter one of six roles each for a series of paradigms that the player can change in battle.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The big new add is that while battling, you can collect monsters who join you as a third party member in battle. &amp;nbsp;They also level up and develop new abilities as you battle.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Just to clarify:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Story involving time travel? &amp;nbsp;Check.&lt;br /&gt;
Improved FF13 based paradigm shifty battle system? &amp;nbsp;Check.&lt;br /&gt;
Collecting monsters, Pokemon style to fight alongside you? &amp;nbsp;Check.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2012/02/06&quot;&gt;DRESSING UP SAID MONSTERS IN CUTE HATS&lt;/a&gt;? &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Yeah, the game kind of has it all.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNwxDYjE9yvimBR_oc5pJlQH8EAWWXI8S8xLepItMjJ-HeYvBz8i1_oKrkvVV1cGUPrXgsvFUL-E9YKUSHCvgG5Or8skAth2TvV-1UF7KZnzG9p0P3VT9y3UNYwO94l5GJsK5ytX38NsA/s1600/final-fantasy-xiii-2-moogle-magic-e1328059358759.jpeg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;179&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNwxDYjE9yvimBR_oc5pJlQH8EAWWXI8S8xLepItMjJ-HeYvBz8i1_oKrkvVV1cGUPrXgsvFUL-E9YKUSHCvgG5Or8skAth2TvV-1UF7KZnzG9p0P3VT9y3UNYwO94l5GJsK5ytX38NsA/s320/final-fantasy-xiii-2-moogle-magic-e1328059358759.jpeg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Moogles? &amp;nbsp;Wow - talk about a forgotten IP.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Like most FF sequels: it is certainly less serious than the original (see above hats), opting instead to spread its wings and give innovation a try. &amp;nbsp;It&#39;s also learned a lot from its predecessor and is decidedly &lt;i&gt;not &lt;/i&gt;linear. &amp;nbsp;In the demo, I was given side quest missions from NPCs. &amp;nbsp;NPCs!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Anyway, for the low price of $19.95, buying the game seems like a no-brainer. &amp;nbsp;But I&#39;ve got some travel coming up, and frankly, I nabbed &lt;i&gt;Skyrim&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;and I&#39;m really itching to give it a try...</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/637547358721966390/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/demo-final-fantasy-xiii-2.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/637547358721966390'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/637547358721966390'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/demo-final-fantasy-xiii-2.html' title='Demo: Final Fantasy XIII-2'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMpHf47S9K7YKTPx-5SNQsVCpDc3BnTJRBsHGJ6aEJLXFHgi1zlAxdBhbr-lUKAD5sbuP130rhYvTh347xwAiw2n-nvWhgA-xyRRlW4FEPpQ155LBrScoCVuv4iNkuHiOze-WeqZ8NMsE/s72-c/final-fantasy-xiii-2-logo-530px.jpeg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-8813763961213043807</id><published>2012-08-13T09:03:00.001-06:00</published><updated>2012-08-13T09:03:26.709-06:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="final fantasy"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="ps3"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="trophies"/><title type='text'>Things That Are Ingots, Things That Are Trophies</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcvTYwGh6OwJgyZuHK_OILM8186aa4Xgcy4u7IPd_cZgxjfMswB28SS62frMALJi1JFUBXX8bfabStKuZ_HXNT8U2YS5HrdDBS3Cw8dH_LaTO7dx3FtyjyKR7ltwfsSw0YThaD_XXTqIQ/s1600/Picture+3.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;186&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcvTYwGh6OwJgyZuHK_OILM8186aa4Xgcy4u7IPd_cZgxjfMswB28SS62frMALJi1JFUBXX8bfabStKuZ_HXNT8U2YS5HrdDBS3Cw8dH_LaTO7dx3FtyjyKR7ltwfsSw0YThaD_XXTqIQ/s400/Picture+3.png&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/8813763961213043807/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/things-that-are-ingots-things-that-are.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/8813763961213043807'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/8813763961213043807'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/things-that-are-ingots-things-that-are.html' title='Things That Are Ingots, Things That Are Trophies'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcvTYwGh6OwJgyZuHK_OILM8186aa4Xgcy4u7IPd_cZgxjfMswB28SS62frMALJi1JFUBXX8bfabStKuZ_HXNT8U2YS5HrdDBS3Cw8dH_LaTO7dx3FtyjyKR7ltwfsSw0YThaD_XXTqIQ/s72-c/Picture+3.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-4108934707602543866</id><published>2012-08-10T15:52:00.001-06:00</published><updated>2012-08-10T15:52:58.687-06:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="calming"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="coffee"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="flash"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="free"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="puzzle"/><title type='text'>Flash Game Friday: Sky Garden</title><content type='html'>Sometimes, you actually have to do work at work, rather than pretend that you are a much beloved video game blogger, with users dedicate themselves to your every movement. &amp;nbsp;So, sometimes you have to work - and you&#39;re looking for a Flash-based distraction that will calm and relieve your stressful work life.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoxeA7Irjb3uLA8q6T1E-ebfXVQvijz25QNidmvwdqsjtkhx4T7bmWLqVmlIBLCy61pSXN5V2Ti1y5w5XLf9fPkv2bsyVY7QAsu7bWdLUMSoc-Tt5dFeXhMggMfFpgy_NYiTiBqxdnxwo/s1600/Picture+1.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoxeA7Irjb3uLA8q6T1E-ebfXVQvijz25QNidmvwdqsjtkhx4T7bmWLqVmlIBLCy61pSXN5V2Ti1y5w5XLf9fPkv2bsyVY7QAsu7bWdLUMSoc-Tt5dFeXhMggMfFpgy_NYiTiBqxdnxwo/s320/Picture+1.png&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;The graphics are simple, as is the gameplay.&lt;br /&gt;Simple and calming.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
Enter &lt;a href=&quot;http://jayisgames.com/games/sky-garden/&quot;&gt;Sky Garden&lt;/a&gt;, a simple puzzle game with music that is so calming, it blends you slowly into a Friday afternoon coma.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The concept is simple: click every tree. &amp;nbsp;The tree releases a stream of water in all four directions as far as possible. &amp;nbsp;The streams built from clicking the trees will&amp;nbsp;destroy&amp;nbsp;any tree they touch, so the game casually introduces you to the strategy of using streams to block future streams. &amp;nbsp;Then, like any good puzzle game, new elements are introduced. &amp;nbsp;Seedlings require water to be born into trees. &amp;nbsp;Ice halts your streams&#39; progress. &amp;nbsp;And lava slowly spreads, killing your trees.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I strongly recommend this game for its stupendous ease to pick up, play, and complete.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/4108934707602543866/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/flash-game-friday-sky-garden.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/4108934707602543866'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/4108934707602543866'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/flash-game-friday-sky-garden.html' title='Flash Game Friday: Sky Garden'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoxeA7Irjb3uLA8q6T1E-ebfXVQvijz25QNidmvwdqsjtkhx4T7bmWLqVmlIBLCy61pSXN5V2Ti1y5w5XLf9fPkv2bsyVY7QAsu7bWdLUMSoc-Tt5dFeXhMggMfFpgy_NYiTiBqxdnxwo/s72-c/Picture+1.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-7973576816376657426</id><published>2012-08-09T10:41:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2012-08-09T10:41:43.360-06:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="fantasy"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="final fantasy"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="gba"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="great story"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="nostalgia"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="rpg"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="snes"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="wii"/><title type='text'>Final Fantasy IV</title><content type='html'>&lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizRdruz-BuML_1315Bt6Ry4buTi3cc-kmAd3lz6Ze4HQCwcMweEjxPmoMGfkRvP3-tPV3UbvarFlDGdR_2yn_BnApwZPwG8uXyz2CkeoY9xTRPGK_TGqTAgMgzDdhoSzDcPY4wanM1ROA/s1600/Baron.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;278&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizRdruz-BuML_1315Bt6Ry4buTi3cc-kmAd3lz6Ze4HQCwcMweEjxPmoMGfkRvP3-tPV3UbvarFlDGdR_2yn_BnApwZPwG8uXyz2CkeoY9xTRPGK_TGqTAgMgzDdhoSzDcPY4wanM1ROA/s320/Baron.png&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;You can keep your fancy polygons: &lt;br /&gt;16 bit is the life for me.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
Before there were cutscenes, and polygonal graphics, and confusing combat systems, and teen angst, there was &lt;i&gt;Final Fantasy IV&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;(or &lt;i&gt;Final Fantasy II &lt;/i&gt;as it was released in the United States to avoid then-confusion in exchange for now-confusion). &amp;nbsp;In addition to the game being simpler, I too was simpler: a boy of 8 or 9, unconcerned with taxes, or mortgages, or whether or not to use an Oxford comma when making lists. &amp;nbsp;And I was there with &lt;i&gt;FF4&lt;/i&gt;, following the adventures of the sprite-like protagonists in - upon reflection - one of the most clear Final Fantasy stories ever.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The fourth iteration of the quite un-final Final Fantasy series told the story of Cecil, a dark knight who begins to question if exchanging his morals for power was all that great of an idea. &amp;nbsp;By extension, he questions the orders of King Baron for sacking the helpless mages of Mysdia to collect their Water Crystal (which, presumably has power - because it is so shiny). &amp;nbsp;For questioning orders, you are summarily dismissed on a final errand to deliver a package.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The package is actually a bomb, destroying the village Myst and all of its inhabitants (Summoners who threatened the king&#39;s plans) minus one girl who Cecil feels really bad about killing her mother and helps protect her. &amp;nbsp;In turn your party is complimented by the girl, Rydia, a Summoner; Rosa, your girlfriend; Yang, a martial arts master; Tellah, an old sage seeking&amp;nbsp;vengeance&amp;nbsp;for his&amp;nbsp;murdered&amp;nbsp;daughter, Edward, &lt;a href=&quot;http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/You_Spoony_Bard!&quot;&gt;a spoony bard&lt;/a&gt;; Palom and Porom, twin mages from Mysdia; Cid, the first playable entrant of the recurring airship captain; Edge, a ninja; FuSoYa, a ridiculously over-powered mage for which you only briefly have control; and Kain, your former Dragoon companion gone-traitor after his own personal redemption. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Redemption is a recurring theme for &lt;i&gt;FF4&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;- Cecil seeking redemption for being a Dark Knight (and becoming a Paladin), Edward seeking redemption for the cowardice that killed his fiance, Cid seeks redemption for helping build warships... the list goes on and on. &amp;nbsp;The story here is complicated, but in the way that epic tales are not simple, not the way that I have no idea what is what without reading an accompanying compendium. &amp;nbsp;There are the occasional cheap writing techniques, but all-in-all the game plays like a story unfolds: naturally. &amp;nbsp;And there are plenty an epic moment: becoming a Paladin, Rydia&#39;s triumphant return to the party, and flying to the moon.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHXHmTFZunTT-xTuSkNRNqGyGNJ9HuAJMs1yAxZ0BGZ9Zsi8Pbg4gC_tnI1tzb65HH3SIYwOhrzTeIXyIy3q7QOWlID2w4ZcyVDLPrTjLxCXVTT7cjcboccdypELYkcFAB61ATYIgxx50/s1600/ff2_snes_battle.jpeg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHXHmTFZunTT-xTuSkNRNqGyGNJ9HuAJMs1yAxZ0BGZ9Zsi8Pbg4gC_tnI1tzb65HH3SIYwOhrzTeIXyIy3q7QOWlID2w4ZcyVDLPrTjLxCXVTT7cjcboccdypELYkcFAB61ATYIgxx50/s320/ff2_snes_battle.jpeg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;I&#39;m surprised! at how awesome I thought this looked as a kid.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
Battle is active, turn-based, and menu-driven. &amp;nbsp;It&#39;s not quite to the perfected point of future &lt;i&gt;Final Fantasies&lt;/i&gt;, but the unique ability sets each character develops are a nice addition. &amp;nbsp;Some battles are quite difficult without grinding, but they are mostly reserved to optional areas and the final dungeon. &amp;nbsp;Random encounters abound, but the game almost feels bad about throwing them at you: they start and conclude rather&amp;nbsp;seamlessly&amp;nbsp;with the world map.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
And the world &lt;i&gt;is&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;well crafted, and huge. &amp;nbsp;There is an overworld, a world below, and the mother-fucking moon for you to explore. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The game is available in so many ways, you have no excuse not to be playing it &lt;b&gt;right now&lt;/b&gt;. &amp;nbsp;It is available for the Wii in its SNES dumbed-down for American&#39;s version, the GBA re-release featuring additional difficulty (as was intended), the Playstation re-release on the PSN (not recommended due to horrible loading times) and a DS remake with polygonal characters and cutscenes (with voiceovers)!</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/7973576816376657426/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/final-fantasy-iv.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/7973576816376657426'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/7973576816376657426'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/final-fantasy-iv.html' title='Final Fantasy IV'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizRdruz-BuML_1315Bt6Ry4buTi3cc-kmAd3lz6Ze4HQCwcMweEjxPmoMGfkRvP3-tPV3UbvarFlDGdR_2yn_BnApwZPwG8uXyz2CkeoY9xTRPGK_TGqTAgMgzDdhoSzDcPY4wanM1ROA/s72-c/Baron.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-8151128021863106349</id><published>2012-08-06T12:42:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2012-08-06T12:42:02.668-06:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="demo"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="graphics"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="portal"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="ps3"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="puzzle"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="star trek"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="the letter q"/><title type='text'>Demo: Quantum Conundrum</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_0qSEJfLXbsR_4iI6PDmOPKUz-L75ibarZQOYyjxbjVOU82HazBZHeerJOyAVJcYN_CVDOEgojyXd-bWbYRxA2ViSIYEKVNz9_ypnKvRf_NTZDBzR3IdaCnmAwcnllczjjYBLJrWqnic/s1600/Quantum-Conundrum.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;171&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_0qSEJfLXbsR_4iI6PDmOPKUz-L75ibarZQOYyjxbjVOU82HazBZHeerJOyAVJcYN_CVDOEgojyXd-bWbYRxA2ViSIYEKVNz9_ypnKvRf_NTZDBzR3IdaCnmAwcnllczjjYBLJrWqnic/s320/Quantum-Conundrum.png&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Last week, during the sporadic moments of Internet I had access to, I downloaded a couple of game demos to play, punctuating my otherwise unenjoyable X-button mashing quest for a Platinum Trophy is Final Fantasy XIII.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
One such demo was that of &lt;i&gt;Quantum Conundrum&lt;/i&gt;, previously released on Steam and the XBLA, but also available on the PSN. &amp;nbsp;&lt;i&gt;Quantum Conundrum&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;is a first-person puzzle game (a genre only recently emerging and with only one other entrant I can think of: &lt;i&gt;Portal&lt;/i&gt;) wherein you traverse various rooms, manipulating physics and controlling small objects to push buttons and make way to the room&#39;s exit.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
If you notice that the description for &lt;i&gt;QC&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;I offered&amp;nbsp;was remarkably close to the one I gave &lt;i&gt;Portal&lt;/i&gt;, well, you&#39;re right on the money. &amp;nbsp;However, &lt;i&gt;QC&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;is mostly different from &lt;i&gt;Portal&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;in that it exists in a more cartoony world, the physics you control are environmental, and the narrating voice is male and less&amp;nbsp;malevolent&amp;nbsp;(and voiced by John de Lancie, &lt;i&gt;Star Trek&lt;/i&gt;&#39;s Q!)&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Thanks to a handy device, you are able to modify the properties of the environment around you in one of four ways (only three of which are featured in the demo). &amp;nbsp;You can enter the Fluffy Dimension, where objects are easy to move around and throw; the Heavy Dimension, were objects are solid, break through glass, and are indestructable (but sadly, is not a dimension populated solely by &lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Heavy&quot;&gt;TF2&#39;s Heavy&lt;/a&gt; - be still my heart); the Slow Motion Dimension, which I hope does not require additional&amp;nbsp;explanation; and a dimension where gravity reverses itself.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The demo is fun, with nice quips from John de Lancie as you go along. &amp;nbsp;Definitely worth a grab to see if you&#39;d enjoy it enough for the $15 price tag.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/8151128021863106349/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/demo-quantum-conundrum.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/8151128021863106349'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/8151128021863106349'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/demo-quantum-conundrum.html' title='Demo: Quantum Conundrum'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_0qSEJfLXbsR_4iI6PDmOPKUz-L75ibarZQOYyjxbjVOU82HazBZHeerJOyAVJcYN_CVDOEgojyXd-bWbYRxA2ViSIYEKVNz9_ypnKvRf_NTZDBzR3IdaCnmAwcnllczjjYBLJrWqnic/s72-c/Quantum-Conundrum.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-3802393353134189446</id><published>2012-08-03T12:09:00.002-06:00</published><updated>2012-08-03T12:09:47.477-06:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="farming"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="flash"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="free"/><title type='text'>Flash Game Friday: Farm and Grow</title><content type='html'>&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhra57HQC0uzL6RGhp_cqvAyYk58CAwPkaY9RPGGEx5l-pwlDv-hdWWS4wNxV6dp8YvUQ3RzyyLRwyj3bPJBZGc-ftEtIsMwx4mEpdHc7M0C8zFF7FT75yELff-dGFmD1LAzKBLaJm2aAE/s1600/FarmGame.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;210&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhra57HQC0uzL6RGhp_cqvAyYk58CAwPkaY9RPGGEx5l-pwlDv-hdWWS4wNxV6dp8YvUQ3RzyyLRwyj3bPJBZGc-ftEtIsMwx4mEpdHc7M0C8zFF7FT75yELff-dGFmD1LAzKBLaJm2aAE/s320/FarmGame.png&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Farming. &amp;nbsp;And Growing.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kongregate.com/games/CuriousGaming/farm-and-grow&quot;&gt;Farm and Grow&lt;/a&gt; is a delightful flash game that makes farming look easier than it really is. &amp;nbsp;This game is fun and sort of addicting, but farming - let&#39;s be clear - is actually not.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
You manage a farmer and his family: planting crops, selling them in town, becoming educated, and farming more efficiently. &amp;nbsp;You have to feed your mini-pixel characters or they will die, and 12 dead family members means Game Over (also, 12 is a lot of pixel-blood on your hands - you maybe should seek therapy).</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/3802393353134189446/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/flash-game-friday-farm-and-grow.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/3802393353134189446'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/3802393353134189446'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/flash-game-friday-farm-and-grow.html' title='Flash Game Friday: Farm and Grow'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhra57HQC0uzL6RGhp_cqvAyYk58CAwPkaY9RPGGEx5l-pwlDv-hdWWS4wNxV6dp8YvUQ3RzyyLRwyj3bPJBZGc-ftEtIsMwx4mEpdHc7M0C8zFF7FT75yELff-dGFmD1LAzKBLaJm2aAE/s72-c/FarmGame.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-8584967036118540419</id><published>2012-08-01T12:14:00.001-06:00</published><updated>2012-08-01T12:14:44.540-06:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="art"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="final fantasy"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="graphics"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="meh"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="ps3"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="replay"/><title type='text'>Lightning Strikes Twice: A Second Chance for FFXIII</title><content type='html'>I was perhaps a little critical in &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/03/final-fantasy-xiii.html&quot;&gt;my review of Final Fantasy the Thirteenth&lt;/a&gt; (except for the bit about Lightning&amp;#39;s hair- which continues to be unnecessarily wrong).  I have recently been replaying the game, and I wanted to give the thing a fair shake of a review.  So here goes.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibIITuIW73C5WL7Hx7RxKwOcGXATBBifzDs2E6Uo6JVF5VswZVspkYiCHPAyjULLEsZBxweqfAnS30_ubLyaDSjqeVsn6QzwTxeTcMd6SuXz75YMguHxyKwhHOelEvyzsxRkK1Sb5qn4o/s1600/FangandVanille.jpeg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;179&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibIITuIW73C5WL7Hx7RxKwOcGXATBBifzDs2E6Uo6JVF5VswZVspkYiCHPAyjULLEsZBxweqfAnS30_ubLyaDSjqeVsn6QzwTxeTcMd6SuXz75YMguHxyKwhHOelEvyzsxRkK1Sb5qn4o/s320/FangandVanille.jpeg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Brace yourself.  This is going to be intense.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
It&amp;#39;s still not very good.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/lightning-strikes-twice-second-chance.html#more&quot;&gt;Hit the Jump! &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/8584967036118540419/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/lightning-strikes-twice-second-chance.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/8584967036118540419'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/8584967036118540419'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/08/lightning-strikes-twice-second-chance.html' title='Lightning Strikes Twice: A Second Chance for FFXIII'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibIITuIW73C5WL7Hx7RxKwOcGXATBBifzDs2E6Uo6JVF5VswZVspkYiCHPAyjULLEsZBxweqfAnS30_ubLyaDSjqeVsn6QzwTxeTcMd6SuXz75YMguHxyKwhHOelEvyzsxRkK1Sb5qn4o/s72-c/FangandVanille.jpeg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-8646867813286681030</id><published>2012-06-29T08:57:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2012-06-29T08:57:00.449-06:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="coffee"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="flash"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="free"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="the letter k"/><title type='text'>Flash Game Friday: Special Episode for Leaving Higher Education - First Person Grader</title><content type='html'>Today is my last day working directly for an institution of higher education, which has been the status quo for the past ten years - my enitre adult life!&amp;nbsp; To celebrate, I&#39;m sharing this gem: &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gradinggame.com/&quot;&gt;First Person Grader&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUOiGA2nXJtIbAqJbGmS9KADA9VNGrBjs0MNTilEIR7Db9D0vndAA1CL1jXLmCG-vZ2wysUobUEajHmdtfHZpXrl9wtiYV0jEDVrCJvCVd4LhBENG2WJ4x6ShltaInQYsUkB_08EyYZcE/s1600/FPGrader.JPG&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;239&quot; rca=&quot;true&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUOiGA2nXJtIbAqJbGmS9KADA9VNGrBjs0MNTilEIR7Db9D0vndAA1CL1jXLmCG-vZ2wysUobUEajHmdtfHZpXrl9wtiYV0jEDVrCJvCVd4LhBENG2WJ4x6ShltaInQYsUkB_08EyYZcE/s320/FPGrader.JPG&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;More fun than grammar should be.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
You are a starving graduate student with a mountain of debt, eagerly accepting a TA-ship with the hardass Dr. Paynuss.&amp;nbsp; The good doc sends you papers and you must grade them in order to fail students and get paid.&amp;nbsp; &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
While the premise sounds a little dull, the game is actually a blast to play and enjoy, and a great send off from my life of working for higher ed.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/8646867813286681030/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/06/flash-game-friday-special-episode-for.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/8646867813286681030'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/8646867813286681030'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/06/flash-game-friday-special-episode-for.html' title='Flash Game Friday: Special Episode for Leaving Higher Education - First Person Grader'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUOiGA2nXJtIbAqJbGmS9KADA9VNGrBjs0MNTilEIR7Db9D0vndAA1CL1jXLmCG-vZ2wysUobUEajHmdtfHZpXrl9wtiYV0jEDVrCJvCVd4LhBENG2WJ4x6ShltaInQYsUkB_08EyYZcE/s72-c/FPGrader.JPG" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-751173073274846961</id><published>2012-03-29T11:39:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2012-08-09T10:42:54.646-06:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="action"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="adventure"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="disney"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="final fantasy"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="great story"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="nostalgia"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="rpg"/><title type='text'>Kingdom Hearts I &amp; II</title><content type='html'>I&amp;#39;ve been spending some time over the past couple weeks enjoying the seminal (meaning industry-advancing or significant, not semen-related) &lt;em&gt;Kingdom Hearts&lt;/em&gt; games for the Playstation 2.  While the gameplay is nothing new, and the story bounces from whimsically simple to the Square-Enix induced complexity of a theoretical equation, the real standout of the game is the sheer depth of intellectual property fed into the game from both Disney and Square-Enix.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
&lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgknW_SdZqtjvZd4WhcpROQlHb7ulb4k9qr2N7mx-g_0_7rVLDjmtxAX3d3rThE7CFp7h9YAJIVBTawC_TRI-DFpXRTpnXVG_3A5Y22SmHMos9Tdi4lxWvyZe3-cUxGFa43JNSsVe27OUo/s1600/kingdom-hearts-1-screenshot.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; dea=&quot;true&quot; height=&quot;202&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgknW_SdZqtjvZd4WhcpROQlHb7ulb4k9qr2N7mx-g_0_7rVLDjmtxAX3d3rThE7CFp7h9YAJIVBTawC_TRI-DFpXRTpnXVG_3A5Y22SmHMos9Tdi4lxWvyZe3-cUxGFa43JNSsVe27OUo/s320/kingdom-hearts-1-screenshot.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Kairi (left) and Sora (right) in an FMV.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Kingdom Hearts&lt;/em&gt; the first tells the story of Sora, Riku, and Kairi; happy-go-lucky youths who live on a small island and dream of exploring other worlds.  Their dream becomes reality when their world is &amp;quot;connected&amp;quot; to others through a menacing bad mojo known simply as &amp;quot;the darkness.&amp;quot;  And this darkness also spawns monstrous concoctions known as Heartless, who errupt from a person whose heart fell to darkness.  Luckily, Sora is a chosen wielder of the Keyblade, a device that can destory Heartless and seal the doors between worlds.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/03/kingdom-hearts-i-ii.html#more&quot;&gt;Hit the Jump! &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/751173073274846961/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/03/kingdom-hearts-i-ii.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/751173073274846961'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/751173073274846961'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/03/kingdom-hearts-i-ii.html' title='Kingdom Hearts I &amp; II'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgknW_SdZqtjvZd4WhcpROQlHb7ulb4k9qr2N7mx-g_0_7rVLDjmtxAX3d3rThE7CFp7h9YAJIVBTawC_TRI-DFpXRTpnXVG_3A5Y22SmHMos9Tdi4lxWvyZe3-cUxGFa43JNSsVe27OUo/s72-c/kingdom-hearts-1-screenshot.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-6388083290808535997</id><published>2012-02-18T07:35:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2012-02-18T07:35:00.619-07:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="rant"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="talking to myself"/><title type='text'>A Year of dmuma!</title><content type='html'>The blog&#39;s been up for a year now, and I haven&#39;t even completely given up.&amp;nbsp; Here are some highlights of my favorite posts in the past year.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;u&gt;Flash Game Fridays&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/02/launch-games-flash.html&quot;&gt;Launch Games (Flight, Burrito Bison, and Pogo Swing)&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;and &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/02/flash-game-friday-burrito-bison-revenge.html&quot;&gt;Burrito Bison Revenge&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/02/flash-game-friday-gemcraft.html&quot;&gt;GemCraft (Chapter 1, 2, and 0)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/04/flash-game-friday-corporation-inc.html&quot;&gt;Corporation Inc.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/07/flash-game-friday-sweatshop.html&quot;&gt;Sweatshop&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/08/flash-game-friday-word-bacon.html&quot;&gt;Word Bacon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/08/flash-game-friday-hyperpipe.html&quot;&gt;Hyperpipe&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/02/flash-game-friday-bonus-sick-edition.html&quot;&gt;Clarence&#39;s Big Chance&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/03/flash-game-friday-achievement-unlocked.html&quot;&gt;Achievement Unlocked (1 and 2)&lt;/a&gt; - great games, maybe my favorites of all FGF&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/04/flash-game-friday-upgrade-completer.html&quot;&gt;Upgrade Completer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
Fallout: New Vegas, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/03/fallout-new-vegas.html&quot;&gt;the review&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/05/fallout-new-vegas-news-summer-dlc-packs.html&quot;&gt;and&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/08/old-world-blues-follow-up.html&quot;&gt;all the&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/08/fallout-new-vegas-dlc-honest-hearts.html&quot;&gt;DLC reviews&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Going on a bit too much about &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/03/on-matter-of-trophies.html&quot;&gt;trophies&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/08/in-game-economics-101.html&quot;&gt;in-game economics&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/06/balance-of-good-and-evil.html&quot;&gt;morality&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/10/online-social-environments-beyond-mmo.html&quot;&gt;social environments&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Oh yeah, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/05/dragon-age-ii-follow-up.html&quot;&gt;cave rage&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Pretty intense calculations of the many options of &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/12/elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion-goty.html&quot;&gt;Oblivion&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I have unintentionally posted twice about how I hate female video game characters&#39; hair.&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/03/final-fantasy-xiii.html&quot;&gt;Once when reviewing Final Fantasy XIII&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/02/zeldas.html&quot;&gt;once when playing through&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/02/legend-of-zelda-skyward-sword.html&quot;&gt;Skyward Sword&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Also, &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/09/supplier-trophy-here-i-come.html&quot;&gt;Varric&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; And &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/09/dragon-age-2-dlc-legacy.html&quot;&gt;Varric&lt;/a&gt;.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/6388083290808535997/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/02/year-of-dmuma.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/6388083290808535997'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/6388083290808535997'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/02/year-of-dmuma.html' title='A Year of dmuma!'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-1014712463502475787</id><published>2012-02-14T16:52:00.003-07:00</published><updated>2012-02-14T16:52:46.349-07:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="comic"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="silly"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="zelda"/><title type='text'>Relevant Zelda/Valentine&#39;s Cartoon</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJDWEvyK24dA1KOceRkOWddrZkXlHOlBrNwAjRLiZJSXSEq9Jpwy_u3IVysodHnNbmySoAKKcZLuH4NsQOdczsqGjaRwdSrl9XtAeZSoEdyJ-AovAAyiQUsSvgaYhH0E39clSvbWul5fQ/s1600/752b4e5e37ed1c654d0c68b3530f6dfa-d4has1j.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;640&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJDWEvyK24dA1KOceRkOWddrZkXlHOlBrNwAjRLiZJSXSEq9Jpwy_u3IVysodHnNbmySoAKKcZLuH4NsQOdczsqGjaRwdSrl9XtAeZSoEdyJ-AovAAyiQUsSvgaYhH0E39clSvbWul5fQ/s640/752b4e5e37ed1c654d0c68b3530f6dfa-d4has1j.jpg&quot; width=&quot;272&quot; yda=&quot;true&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://tompreston.deviantart.com/art/Zelda-s-Dating-Tips-270921079&quot;&gt;Original&lt;/a&gt; on DeviantArt by TomPreston&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/1014712463502475787/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/02/relevant-zeldavalentines-cartoon.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/1014712463502475787'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/1014712463502475787'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/02/relevant-zeldavalentines-cartoon.html' title='Relevant Zelda/Valentine&#39;s Cartoon'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJDWEvyK24dA1KOceRkOWddrZkXlHOlBrNwAjRLiZJSXSEq9Jpwy_u3IVysodHnNbmySoAKKcZLuH4NsQOdczsqGjaRwdSrl9XtAeZSoEdyJ-AovAAyiQUsSvgaYhH0E39clSvbWul5fQ/s72-c/752b4e5e37ed1c654d0c68b3530f6dfa-d4has1j.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-6498561556609779964</id><published>2012-02-13T19:26:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2012-02-13T19:27:39.986-07:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="action"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="adventure"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="console"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="fantasy"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="funny"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="nintendo"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="nostalgia"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="rpg"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="zelda"/><title type='text'>The Legend of Zelda: The Skyward Sword</title><content type='html'>&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5s0KTEa9YSHdM3c-vvSfE-WbSVEibemyxONFt4WjMUh7poc-ARNHVv8G0_DpNvNVyAtbCWOGEOBFuVTr_HVPIS5-SOjfb3RyEXyfRyrq9INPnuwwHiCbOFiJp2kqtIcmZsg7nFVvhxnk/s1600/Link+in+the+Sky.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;180&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5s0KTEa9YSHdM3c-vvSfE-WbSVEibemyxONFt4WjMUh7poc-ARNHVv8G0_DpNvNVyAtbCWOGEOBFuVTr_HVPIS5-SOjfb3RyEXyfRyrq9INPnuwwHiCbOFiJp2kqtIcmZsg7nFVvhxnk/s320/Link+in+the+Sky.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Skyward Sword&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;takes place largely above the clouds.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;i&gt;Skyward Sword&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;represents the first &lt;i&gt;Zelda&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;title for the Wii (as &lt;i&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/10/legend-of-zelda-twilight-princess.html&quot;&gt;Twilight Princess&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;was simultaneously released for both the Wii and Gamecube). &amp;nbsp;It also boasts itself as the first game in the chronology of over-arching &lt;i&gt;Legend of Zelda&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;story.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
The game begins in Skyloft, a floating island town of bird-riding humans who are giving the bountiful land above the clouds as a gift from the goddess after her banishing of an ancient evil. &amp;nbsp;If you&#39;ve played a &lt;i&gt;Zelda&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;game before you will not be surprised to discover that the banishment of that ancient evil has become slightly tenuous. &amp;nbsp;Luckily, you - Link - are the hero chosen by the goddess to protect the realm.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
&lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp19tzWNndrzRWRsZEdUJ8TCP2GctnLMzl_Xg8Vdct09A0b93IJOrMhcfv07bQyZAIFokPzSkuU5N4Hw-SZiGv9LT_dPOzgO6uWAkS_m7fnz8bTUJkqsjNwp1OTQnCQ9OIA_2o5nHvOWg/s1600/Skyward+Sword.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp19tzWNndrzRWRsZEdUJ8TCP2GctnLMzl_Xg8Vdct09A0b93IJOrMhcfv07bQyZAIFokPzSkuU5N4Hw-SZiGv9LT_dPOzgO6uWAkS_m7fnz8bTUJkqsjNwp1OTQnCQ9OIA_2o5nHvOWg/s1600/Skyward+Sword.png&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;The titular sword, held skyward.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
But before you go can do that, you have to visit some temples, pass trials, and otherwise prove your worth. &amp;nbsp;It&#39;s almost as if the entirety of the game is to complete quests to justify being selected as the chosen hero. &amp;nbsp;First you follow Zelda around, then you have to charge your sword with sacred flames, and complete some song.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
Unfortunately, the variety of things to do doesn&#39;t correlate with an extensive world. &amp;nbsp;Outside of the above-clouds world of fractured, floating islands, only three worlds exist: a forest world, a fire world, and a desert world. &amp;nbsp;It feels very claustrophobic compared to &lt;i&gt;Twilight Princess&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;or even &lt;i&gt;A Link to the Past&lt;/i&gt;. &amp;nbsp;Frequently, you are given reasons to revisit previous environments, sometimes under very thin pretenses.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
The design of the game is a perfect blend of &lt;i&gt;Twilight Princess&#39;&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;realism and &lt;i&gt;Wind Waker&lt;/i&gt;&#39;s cell-shading. &amp;nbsp;Each world has a unique feel, especially musically. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
However, the design cannot cover up some of the game&#39;s biggest shortfalls. &amp;nbsp;I wish the worst I could say was that I was mesmerized into stupidity by &lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/02/zeldas.html&quot;&gt;Zelda&#39;s bangs&lt;/a&gt;, but it was far worse...&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The first game flaw is the flavor of the month assistant, Fi. &amp;nbsp;While I have to accept the fact that Nintendo insists that its players are idiots and need an assistant to give guidance on every single facet of the game, I am greatly disturbed by the intense level of assistance that is constantly offered. &amp;nbsp;After learning about Zelda&#39;s next location, I can barely breathe before Fi errupts from the sword and says: &quot;I&#39;m 80% certain that Zelda is in this location, we should go there.&quot;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
There are a lot of missed opportunities in &lt;i&gt;Skyward Sword&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;to establish some components of the overarching universe. &amp;nbsp;Story-wise, the game stands steady, but I&#39;m disappointed at missed opportunities to add depth and explain the origins of long-standing &lt;i&gt;Zelda&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;characters. &amp;nbsp;At times, it almost felt like a game that was not designed to be a &lt;i&gt;Zelda&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;game, but was turned in to one. &amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2011/02/i-remember-when-my-co-worker-josh-and-i.html&quot;&gt;Not that Nintendo hasn&#39;t done that before...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
&lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjysSiz7mA8Ba2N989-Ir3jEia7Fs_ZOjwcJ_aziTbYnOdTWYsrluhN69o_PA00J-Mm486oQlK7BS0vOpYOo2wd3AijljbN58FJocT6ZEhspBvxJm68jraj2FEbB4KBPjvchlCBxEbO6a8/s1600/Stalfos+Battle.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;179&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjysSiz7mA8Ba2N989-Ir3jEia7Fs_ZOjwcJ_aziTbYnOdTWYsrluhN69o_PA00J-Mm486oQlK7BS0vOpYOo2wd3AijljbN58FJocT6ZEhspBvxJm68jraj2FEbB4KBPjvchlCBxEbO6a8/s320/Stalfos+Battle.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;A Stalfos battle, requiring a specific Wiimote swing.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
And finally, my misgivings couldn&#39;t be complete without commenting on the Wii MotionPlus motion controls. &amp;nbsp;The game boasts the use of MotionPlus in combat and solving puzzles, but in reality, it is an incredibly painful addition. &amp;nbsp;The Wiimote is critical seconds behind during combat situations, wherein almost every enemy has a motion-based defense, &lt;strike&gt;encouraging&lt;/strike&gt; forcing the player to swing the Wiimote one direction or the other.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
But if combat is clunky, it seems next to graceful compared to the Wiimote motion controls of the game&#39;s various mini-games. &amp;nbsp;Mini-games, and subsequent cursing at the world while playing them, are a staple of the &lt;i&gt;Zelda &lt;/i&gt;world; however, these mini-games are rage inducing. &amp;nbsp;Not only must you contend with achieving scores that are nigh undoable, but you must also achieve those scores by using frustrating and inaccurate controls.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
In spite of these shortcomings, the game is a lot of fun, albeit frustrating at times. &amp;nbsp;If you haven&#39;t grabbed it, check it out! &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Link to purchase from Amazon.com:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BSC54I/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;tag=dmuma-20&amp;amp;linkCode=as2&amp;amp;camp=1789&amp;amp;creative=390957&amp;amp;creativeASIN=B002BSC54I&quot;&gt;The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword with Music CD&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/6498561556609779964/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/02/legend-of-zelda-skyward-sword.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/6498561556609779964'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/6498561556609779964'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/02/legend-of-zelda-skyward-sword.html' title='The Legend of Zelda: The Skyward Sword'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5s0KTEa9YSHdM3c-vvSfE-WbSVEibemyxONFt4WjMUh7poc-ARNHVv8G0_DpNvNVyAtbCWOGEOBFuVTr_HVPIS5-SOjfb3RyEXyfRyrq9INPnuwwHiCbOFiJp2kqtIcmZsg7nFVvhxnk/s72-c/Link+in+the+Sky.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-471031035586896447</id><published>2012-02-10T08:20:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2012-02-10T08:20:04.010-07:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="fallout"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="good deal"/><title type='text'>Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition is Available</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;iframe frameborder=&quot;0&quot; marginheight=&quot;0&quot; marginwidth=&quot;0&quot; scrolling=&quot;no&quot; src=&quot;http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&amp;amp;bc1=000000&amp;amp;IS2=1&amp;amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;amp;fc1=000000&amp;amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;amp;t=dmuma-20&amp;amp;o=1&amp;amp;p=8&amp;amp;l=as4&amp;amp;m=amazon&amp;amp;f=ifr&amp;amp;ref=ss_til&amp;amp;asins=B0065NP05G&quot; style=&quot;height: 240px; width: 120px;&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
My enjoyment of &lt;em&gt;Fallout: New &lt;/em&gt;Vegas and its subsequent DLC is fairly well documented on this blog, so I won&#39;t go in depth.&amp;nbsp; But if you haven&#39;t played it yourself, it&#39;s a pretty good value to get the Ultimate Edition (with all DLC) from Amazon above.﻿&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/471031035586896447/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/02/fallout-new-vegas-ultimate-edition-is.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/471031035586896447'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/471031035586896447'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/02/fallout-new-vegas-ultimate-edition-is.html' title='Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition is Available'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-3141214059284274323</id><published>2012-02-10T08:12:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2012-02-10T08:12:31.442-07:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="flash"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="free"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="launch game"/><title type='text'>Flash Game Friday: Burrito Bison Revenge</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhDM3-jjTb5fp66n_0RN1ReFGJEMC1grRTC_QuEcIA-7KPlwQgv_-Bs9_QcB6XB92LNTUR8tfM3orQNPNBNJFNaePpojYRJ1ZEbq4KqjirmHa900MK3VG4rBe9tgTTxWfFC43jZVoLgEM/s1600/burritobisonrevenge2.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;266&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhDM3-jjTb5fp66n_0RN1ReFGJEMC1grRTC_QuEcIA-7KPlwQgv_-Bs9_QcB6XB92LNTUR8tfM3orQNPNBNJFNaePpojYRJ1ZEbq4KqjirmHa900MK3VG4rBe9tgTTxWfFC43jZVoLgEM/s400/burritobisonrevenge2.png&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
One of my favorite launch games has issued a sequel, &lt;a href=&quot;http://games.adultswim.com/burrito-bison-revenge-twitchy-online-game.html&quot;&gt;Burrito Bison Revenge&lt;/a&gt;. &amp;nbsp;The original game was perfect, so I couldn&#39;t imagine how another iteration of the game could possibly be better. &amp;nbsp;Well, more power-ups, longer levels, a Survival Mode, and in-game&amp;nbsp;achievements&amp;nbsp;all brought together to make Burrito Bison Revenge an &lt;i&gt;excellent&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;entrant.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The game is simple enough: you launch the titular bison from a wrestling-ring turned slingshot and land on as many of your former captors as possible, liberating them from their small amounts of cash, which you - in turn - spend on being able to go further, faster, and access more power-ups. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY0kQ4a_wwMZE2fE74qI3Qa15vUltOqrMIbg3_Wmkb0xfEon2J9cTiOhjWu2KahbXoEF4MTbes9O8b3A58XUTb1A3lbXPEcU0bGPfLIvqJm1RkftXnAq1uA80K29RDU8CEfhFtd62ORNI/s1600/burritobisonrevenge.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;213&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY0kQ4a_wwMZE2fE74qI3Qa15vUltOqrMIbg3_Wmkb0xfEon2J9cTiOhjWu2KahbXoEF4MTbes9O8b3A58XUTb1A3lbXPEcU0bGPfLIvqJm1RkftXnAq1uA80K29RDU8CEfhFtd62ORNI/s320/burritobisonrevenge.png&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
The power-ups are extensive. &amp;nbsp;From increasing your initial power to adding new and unusual gummies for you to stomp on and drive cars, fly&amp;nbsp;propeller&amp;nbsp;hats, and ride rockets. &amp;nbsp;It&#39;s just the thing to make a highly addictive - and fun! - flash launch game.&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUBm752dU7QONNXZ3q-4FQHTaN_eNiqEBrYfbL2Ah9hf8-sCdQfyFeDASwEnDXp5WM8G80tGu4LodcxUMvsCqf8mLmRI1h7HbG1jgRC2g2J8jaEpLsd80K2n0OKDyFBi8hQ_Q4WyUt0Aw/s1600/burritobisonrevenge3.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;212&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUBm752dU7QONNXZ3q-4FQHTaN_eNiqEBrYfbL2Ah9hf8-sCdQfyFeDASwEnDXp5WM8G80tGu4LodcxUMvsCqf8mLmRI1h7HbG1jgRC2g2J8jaEpLsd80K2n0OKDyFBi8hQ_Q4WyUt0Aw/s320/burritobisonrevenge3.png&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The in-game achievements give you rewards for successfully doing either the routine (go this far) or the unusual (stomp this many gummies in a certain way). &amp;nbsp;Unfortunately, if I had to criticize one part of this game, the achievements would be it. &amp;nbsp;It&#39;s not that they are bad, but you only get to access 3 of them at a time, and with 120 total, it&#39;s no surprise that you might see a new achievement that you&#39;ve already completed six or seven times.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
But all in all, this game is great. &amp;nbsp;Give it a spin if you&#39;re up for something different.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/3141214059284274323/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/02/flash-game-friday-burrito-bison-revenge.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/3141214059284274323'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/3141214059284274323'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/02/flash-game-friday-burrito-bison-revenge.html' title='Flash Game Friday: Burrito Bison Revenge'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhDM3-jjTb5fp66n_0RN1ReFGJEMC1grRTC_QuEcIA-7KPlwQgv_-Bs9_QcB6XB92LNTUR8tfM3orQNPNBNJFNaePpojYRJ1ZEbq4KqjirmHa900MK3VG4rBe9tgTTxWfFC43jZVoLgEM/s72-c/burritobisonrevenge2.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7702730709016288789.post-8747014524379504280</id><published>2012-02-09T14:02:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2012-02-09T14:02:44.354-07:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="georgia"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="sad"/><title type='text'>Georgia</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHZ6bZYpu35FdDpKpwStYMnRp2zPuWhyb-e82wnAzSBs8iQR-xeztln7v6KM4Io1Dhq8md-t1dDyh8iYPd0pckrRD32ZYW91WdRNqaSpoqK-coMEmKEY6k5Zr8xHu34kpEj1yR6IZEJr8/s1600/Georgia+in+a+Crate.JPG&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHZ6bZYpu35FdDpKpwStYMnRp2zPuWhyb-e82wnAzSBs8iQR-xeztln7v6KM4Io1Dhq8md-t1dDyh8iYPd0pckrRD32ZYW91WdRNqaSpoqK-coMEmKEY6k5Zr8xHu34kpEj1yR6IZEJr8/s320/Georgia+in+a+Crate.JPG&quot; width=&quot;240&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
After a long life of eating, napping, companionship, and plotting to overthrow humanity and rule the world, Georgia has left this world. &lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
Georgia was adopted by my aunt, who learned that she was allergic to cats and invited me to adopt her.  I brought her back to my puny 1-bedroom apartment in Denton, TX, and our lives have been joined since.  She was the perfect lap-cat, whether I was reading, playing video games, or just watching TV.  I think she was also very empathetic; able to sense when I needed comfort.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
I will miss her greatly, but I also understood when I left for Colorado that I might be saying goodbye to her for the last time.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
After the jump I&amp;#39;ve included a couple pictures and stories of our time together.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/02/georgia.html#more&quot;&gt;Hit the Jump! &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/feeds/8747014524379504280/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/02/georgia.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/8747014524379504280'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7702730709016288789/posts/default/8747014524379504280'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://dmuma.blogspot.com/2012/02/georgia.html' title='Georgia'/><author><name>dmuma</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08534475310209633795</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCKZsJ6AABfOUDjuhEl5glIZEtY8uQRGpYyLIeNSCRMGWp5mIVNTlKCdDUL5vhIVPM7TvQFQ-Abo5HM9hUDAl0Sp2btoEFhoiOUCo1L_YHqacbFi2S51C1yiOoKKFrA/s113/megaman.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHZ6bZYpu35FdDpKpwStYMnRp2zPuWhyb-e82wnAzSBs8iQR-xeztln7v6KM4Io1Dhq8md-t1dDyh8iYPd0pckrRD32ZYW91WdRNqaSpoqK-coMEmKEY6k5Zr8xHu34kpEj1yR6IZEJr8/s72-c/Georgia+in+a+Crate.JPG" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>