Life and Games

Anti-drug adds?

2014-10-15T22:29:00.000-07:00

So, I am lazy but this actually lead to a fucking awesome observation. While listening to the radio (That I was too lazy to turn off) despite the fact that if it were to catch fire and offer me a million dollars to put it out I would let it burn out of spite. I heard an anti-pot add, the one after that was something about kids stealing your pain killers to get high or something stupid. I have NEVER, EVER heard an anti coke add, or an anti meth add. Now while I kind of understand that pot, while not being the worst drug in the world, is a drug that youth get into and the radio is aimed just as much at teens as it is adults. But for real, I seem to remember only one add about other drugs and it was the with the chick who says this is you brain, and this is your brain on (Drug of the year here). Get with the program air an add that is close to "meth, not even once." Then we can talk.

Old film reviews anyone?

2014-10-15T21:27:00.000-07:00

Now you see me

I just re-watched a movie I had completely forgotten all about. If anyone here is looking for a great movie you probably passed by, I suggest "Now you see me" Great film, it mixes a great feeling of action and mysticism without beating you over the head with the lore of the movie. All the exposition doesn't feel forced a stellar cast (Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman, Woody Harrelson to name a few) and a great action scene at the end of the second act that a lot of directors could learn a thing or two from (I'm looking at you Christopher Nolan for your truly horrible Batman fight scenes.) If you haven't seen it yet, do it now, if you have seen it, good for you.

South Park, The stick of truth

2014-10-03T00:24:00.001-07:00

So I played what is probably the best game to come out since Skyrim, it is just sadly wearing a very ugly shirt. South Park the stick of truth is a great RPG, and the only thing that brings it down, in my opinion, is the south park aspect. There are a few episodes of the show that really stand out for me to be sure, but they are the ones that are a little less of the edgy side and that focus more on satire than anything else (Night of the living homeless, Make Love, Not Warcraft, Good Times with Weapons). Sadly the only thing that really brings down The stick of truth is the south park aspect. It is a little broken, but then again every RPG is broken if you put the time into it and know what you are doing (I'm looking at you FF7 and FFX and FFX2 ) If you are a fan of RPGs and think you could tolerate about 6 to 10 hours of humor that a 12 year old would find funny presented in a way that an adult could enjoy, then I really think you should play Stick of truth.

Long time no see.

2014-10-01T16:50:00.000-07:00

BEEN AWAY FOR A WHILE, MY BAD GUYS.

I am sorry that it has been so long between posts, I have been a very busy person, but that's aok by me. Also haven't had access to the internet during my soulsearching and trying to figure out what I wanted to do. It all started out with many failed game capture attempts due to my personal retardation. However I do think I have a handle on it now and I am here to stay, it also helps that I now have access to a real smartphone not just a blackberry so I can actually do internet related things and update on mobile, so thats something at least. Also, I think I have a grasp on this whole game capture thing too, so perhaps we will be able to get some of that going on. So I ask you this, what do you guys want to see?

Interactive storytelling vs video games.

2014-10-01T16:35:00.002-07:00

Alright, so this thought occurred to me today. I dislike games where my character, and thus me as a player make no difference in the outcome of the game. For example, most modern military shooters (I have battlefield 3 on my mind at the time of writing) me as a player and thus my character do not control the story. My character, posted in unspecifiedistan, follows his orders and it -looks- like we are contributing to the story, however if my character were to die someone else would pick up where he left off and continue the mission. COD Ghost is an exception where you as a player are in the wrong place at the right time and you do have swing in the story and if your character were to have died at any point prior in the story it would go very differently. I also dislike games where the outcome of the story doesn't matter, take for example borderlands 1, it didn't matter who got all the pieces of the key for the vault, all that mattered is that it gets opened so borderlands 2 can happen E.G. If the crimson raiders had of opened the vault the creature would still have been killed and the eridium would have been spread onto the planet. Now, Skyrim, while anyone can defeat a dragon, your character is the only person who can destroy them, and (Because I choose to think that there is an infinite amount of them for gameplay reasons only) I like to think that there is a finite amount of dragons to kill and in theory if you were to slay them all they would never come back. By extension, if the main player were to die, there would be no one to stop the dragons. Basically my logic is this, if in a game my character can die and instead of respawning I could just take control of a different person in the same general area and continue on with the game I probably don't enjoy it as much. Also games where the story in general is irrelevant (I'm looking at you Left 4 dead) I just can't get immersed in the game. What I mean is they never seem to have survival on their mind, you never have to collect food or water, you just move loading screen to loading screen to get to the final loading screen so you can watch credits fly up the screen. So I guess what I mean to say is I am not a fan of interactive story telling, and instead prefer games that are open and nonlinear such as Skyrim and even the fallout series. The fallout series is interesting because you are typically the only person who is actually trying to 'do' the story missions you are doing things for other people sure, but the main objective is only being done because you as a character are there and driving the plot in the direction you choose.

US army proving grounds (almost a year off)

2013-09-09T21:58:00.000-07:00

For various reasons I have had to take some time off but not I am back and wondering what everyone is doing. I was looking over steam and found a game called US army proving grounds or something like that and I was wondering if it had some sort of Last Starfighter vibe to it where if you 100% the game seal team 6 lands at your house and drafts you into the us military. The only reason I ask is because I am going to assume that for the 90% of people who 100% the game are not exactly US army material myself included.

In the meantime, let's eat.

2012-06-15T02:36:00.002-07:00

As I may have hinted earlier I don't have a lot of money, but I have found out something cool, it made me a great cook. So the question of the day is, what do you have in your freezer or fridge, include spices and stuff and we will see what we can have you make for dinner tonight.

About Minecraft

2012-06-10T19:54:00.000-07:00

Well It's already late in the day on Sunday and I have discovered that I can not post a let's play for Minecrft as the video upload system on blogger sucks. So I am going to have to post it on youtube but I will link each video to the minecraft page here on my blog.

House M.D. Is over...or is it.

2012-05-22T02:15:00.000-07:00

As I'm sure most of you know House has aired it's final episode and is now over. I am going to get my praise for the episode out of the way very quickly and say it was a good one. I can't really qualify that statement as House does let Foreman know he is alive and there is no closure for the final episode of the series. I would have liked to see House and Wilson die, or at least House so that I can know that Fox, Global or some other big conglomerate will not try a haphazard effort to resurrect the series. On that note where the hell was Cuddy at the funeral, you can get the other doctor back in and House's ex in there too but not Cuddy?

Those points aside House was great and the series ended on a note that I was not really expecting, so I guess I should be grateful that it has run as long as it has. Now my only question is what the hell am I going to watch now?

Video games and violence

2012-05-18T03:07:00.001-07:00

To begin with I am going to state that I am very well adjusted and have never thought of killing someone ever. Well sure once or twice I have thought about it, but I would never actually do it. That being said let's jump into the story of the day.

I have been playing video games for most of my life and for the most of my adult life I have been curious about serial killers, and children who are killers as well .The one thing I have seen over and over is it all gets traced back to violent games and television. I don't agree with this synopsis, there has to be another factor in there somewhere, if all it took was a violent game to make someone a killer then I would be 76 kills into an unstoppable kill streak that would make Ted Bundy jealous. Perhaps the missing element is how I was raised, I lived with my dad and he always taught me that all life is equal, he didn't teach me to hate blacks, jews, gays or anything like that. I learned to hate people for who they are on a personal level without judging them by their outward appearance.

So why are games targeted; Because someone can turn on almost any game released between October to December every year and (in the even of the 2011 Christmas release) they would have seen Saints row the third, Gears of War 3, battlefield 3, and Modern warfare 3. All of these games have one thing in common, they are all violent and they are all visceral in the application of it. The thing is that the most realistic game in the world is still distinguishable from reality very much so. This makes a good point for someone trying to say that games are violent, so the people who play them must be as well. But I can also say that corporal punishment (E.G. spanking) has also been kicked off the table and most other forms of discipline have been as well. C.A.S. (or C.P.S for my american readers) have stated that should you wish to punish your children and opt to give them a time out in the corner, a child should be placed in the corner for one minute for every year of their age. I don't know about all of you but that would have been like giving a murderer 10 hours of comunity service so far as I was concerned as a child.

I guess what I am trying to say is that parents need to spend more time raising their children and teaching them how the world works.

Why Battlefield?

2012-05-16T03:01:00.000-07:00

Why play battlefield, or any other game, for it's multiplayer function for that matter.

I am going to run you through my typical battlefield spawn in multiplayer

I spawn in after being sniped
I run about 45 feet in any direction before realizing that I am nowhere near a foe and I decided to spawn in with a shotgun
I find a corner to sit in with a motion detector and my shotgun (It's not camping, it's tactical waiting)
Someone uses the noob-tube (or pro-pipe) and now suddenly I have no wall left to hide behind.
I run out and start firing my shotgun and finally kill someone.
A second for just managed to spawn on the person I was fighting, usually I get to kill them too
The sniper from earlier has found me again and lays my brains out on the battlefield
8 go to 1

Now this is me in single player

I load the game and watch a cut scene
The game picked my weapons for me for the most part so I can be assured they are going to be ok for the coming encounter.
I kill hundreds of people for some reason I don't understand
I die because I didn't see the neon orange grenade warning light.
But I hit a checkpoint just a second ago, so I guess lesson learned.
I beat the mission
7 go to 1 until the credits roll.

That being said how can example 1 be more fun than example 2? The answer is very simple, if in my spawn I used the noob-tube to kill three assholes on top of a crane and killed their spawner too. I ruined the match for them, because now they know I know they got up there, and I know that they -don't- know that I am going to wait for them to go back. You fall into a pattern, throw on the headset and try and interact with the smarter of your squad, kill the people who are on the parts of the map that should be inaccessible, hop into the AA gun and kill the chopper that's killing all of your vehicles before you can use them. Get into your liberated vehicles and go and do it to them while four or five smarter players in the match fight for the control points (If it a C.Q. Match) win or lose, look at your accolades and wait 30 seconds to do it again.

I am not in any way saying that I am good at Battlefield 3, or halo or mass effect, but I enjoy them, and sometimes that is so much better.

Nuclear Dawn and excellent customer service from interwave stuido.

2012-04-02T04:48:00.000-07:00

Hello, it has been a while since I have posted anything on here but I wanted to share a story with you, that opened my eyes to the big wide world of understanding.Also a text review of a game I have not gotten to fully experience yet.

Game - Nuclear Dawn
Company - Interweave stuido
Genre - FPS + RTS
Bought on Steam Get it here

Graphics - 9.8 of 10
Gameplay - 8 of 10 (Speculated)
Concept - 10 of 10
Music and SFX - 9 of 10
Overall - 9.2

Very pretty game, simple controls for the FPS aspect, it gets right what command and conquer renegade failed to do, which is marry the FPS and RTS genre with wholesome love. I plan to do a video review once I get back into it in a few days.

The one true downfall of this game is that it is multiplayer only and once the servers die (As I thought they had) there will be nothing to do aside from play the training missions over and over (And that's almost worth it). But that's not what I want to talk about today, what I want to tell you about is the EPIC level of customer service held by the company itself and the Awesomeness of the CEO Michiel Beenen.

I am kind of an ass in this e-mail I send but I am going to show the whole thing, as it is only fair to show what people have to deal with from me when I am upset about something. I removed all the sensitive information from the e-mail however, this includes his e-mail address and the phone number ect ect, which can all be found under the 'contact us' section of the website. As I am sure I don't have to tell you read the flow of conversation from the bottom (Which is my initial e-mail) to the top (Which is the last one in the chain.)

On a related note I have three limited free passes to the game, I don'y know how long the trial is, but anyone who reads this and can correctly answer one of these questions in the comments will get one.

(To qualify you can only answer 1 question, and you must have a steam account)

Question 1 - In "My life in Skyrim" What is the main characters name?
Question 2 - What company (In my opinion) Has epic customer service?
Question 3 - What is the main design difference between my old keyboard and my new one?

All of the answers can be found elsewhere in this blog.

No problem :)

Michiel Beenen
Managing Director

On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 1:19 PM, Devon wrote

Oh, one last thing, please accept my apology. I am not a stranger to admitting when I am truly wrong, and in this I was truly wrong.

-----Original Message-----
From: Michiel Beenen <>
Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2012 11:07:58
To: <>
Subject: Re: Nuclear Dawn is useless to me.

Im the owner of InterWave so no i dont have superiors ;)

Michiel Beenen
Managing Director

InterWaveStudios.com | InterWaveGames.com <http://www.interwavestudios.com/>

On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 1:05 PM, I wrote
Oh. I was looking in the forums and found nothing that pointed me in that direction at all, and independent blogs and MP game forums said that it had become a dead game. I am very happy to hear that this is a technical issue and not a lack of player base as the game looks very stunning and the game play seems streamlined.

Thank you for a very quick reply to my initial e-mail. Good customer service, even to bad customers, is a trademark trait that many companies are losing nowadays. I would like to commend you on a very polite and efficient customer service attitude and would thereby like to know if there is any way to get into contact with your superiors (that is, assuming you have some).

-----Original Message-----
From: Michiel Beenen < <> >
Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2012 10:56:45
To: <> >
Subject: Re: Nuclear Dawn is useless to me.

Hello,

We are trully sorry to hear this it is a problem with Steam atm and Valve is aware of this, there are servers but they do not show up because they made a bug with the version number.
This should hopefully be fixed today.
  Michiel Beenen
  Managing Director
  <http://www.interwavestudios.com/>

> >

  InterWaveStudios.com | InterWaveGames.com <http://www.interwavestudios.com/>

On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 12:54 PM, Devon wrote:
  GENERAL CONTACT FORM
  Submitted on Monday, April 2, 2012 - 12:54
  Submitted by user:
  Submitted values are:

  Name: Devon

Subject: Nuclear Dawn is useless to me.
  Category: Product Information
  Message:
  I recently bought Nuclear dawn off of steam and was thrilled at the prospect of playing a game like this. However my dreams were crushed when I found out that there was literally not a single other person than me who thought the same thing, and to be frank I'm more than a little pissed off. There was no warning when I bought the game that the servers were dead, and not a soul lurked to play the game with, if I had of been warned I would never have bought the game.

  I'm sure you can check my player history and see that I have never even played a match other than one I started to get a feel for the game. I was wondering in which direction I would have to look in for a refund of the money I spent to buy it. Well I am well aware that you are not obligated to provide me one in any way shape or form I will not stop until i have exploited every single option at my disposal.

  On a side note your game is very pretty to look at and is smoother than a lot of game on the market at the moment, and I am sad that I am not going to have a chance to play it.

  Please respond to me at your earliest convince

He responded very quickly as you can see from time stamps.

Sorry I have been neglectful

2012-01-19T22:14:00.000-08:00

I have not been able to post anything in this blog for a while, and I am sorry for that. I went to make a new game review, and windows movie maker keeps crashing my PC I'm looking for a fix for that but in the meantime my PC is toast for video reviews. I have also had some medical issues that have been keeping me occupied, I hope to have something for you soon, in the meantime please keep your chin up and your spirits cold ;)

I've got the new keyboard blues.

2012-01-11T14:55:00.000-08:00

I had to get a new keyboard, and the first thing I have learned about me is that I do not adapt to various forms of change well.

This was my old keyboard.

And this is my new one.

I had a replacement guarantee for the old one, at The Source, but they were out of stock at the time, so they replaced them for me. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that they do that, but I miss my old keyboard. I keep having to look down at this one because the keys are smaller and I am a large fingered gentleman. Ya know the keys may not even be smaller but without the curve in the keyboard they are closer and i find myself pressing two at the same time. but in the end what the hell, I'll figure it out sooner or later.

The problem with kittens

2012-01-10T12:59:00.000-08:00

I have three cats, I do enjoy their company even if they couldn't be bothered to give me the time of day most of the time. While cleaning the apartment earlier today i found a small piece of blue paper on the floor. Any Canadian citizen will know that it is part of a birth certificate, I have been hunting this object down for a few weeks now, and with the discovery of the shard of blue paper I don't think I am going to find it. It has been filed under 'C' for cat, or perhaps 'N' for Nova (the kitten in question) either way I'm pretty sure it's gone and there is nothing I can do except for order a new one.

The moral of the story is; Kittens will destroy your stuff, but they are fluffy and cute and we love them anyways.

Working to live...yeah I understand that.

2012-01-03T04:21:00.000-08:00

So, it's payday and upon seeing my pay i realized one thing, I'm already broke. The cool part is that I have money for cat litter and cat food, the sad part is that the cats (I have three) will have more food in the house then I will. But that's fine by me, other people would tell you how to save your money and be responcable, I however am going to make you a detailed list on how to live when you get paid less a month then your current cost of living.

Tip one - Understand that using this system you will never get ahead, that's why your using the system, when you had extra money you weren't in this problem in the first place. You will eventually fall behind on everything sooner or later, but this system will help you at least keep afloat.

Tip two - Pay the right bills at the right time, your priorities should be, in this order; Rent > hydro > food > internet. You don't have to pay them all of the bill, just shoot them money so they know you care. They will call you over and over if you don't answer and tell them that you intend to pay so...answer the phone and make an arrangement, you will probably have to break it but that's ok, so long as you give them some money when they want is you will keep your services that much longer

Tip three - .If you get paid bi-monthly like I do, twice a year you will have a three pay month, use the middle pay to pay your bills as close as you can to $0 and use this pay to buy food, anything canned is good. all the other months use this tip to stay on top. Split your bills on the first pay of them month, it probably won't pay all of them but if each bill gets an equal amount any extra windfall you receive can go to them too. The bottom pay of the month can go straight to rent and anything leftover to food and something tiny for yourself. You always want to get yourself a little something every now and again, it will help you not do that when you have extra windfall to throw at the bills.

Tip four - Always keep an eye out for a provider offering the services you already have for a cheaper price, and when you call them to ask about it always ask them how much your bill is going to be -AFTER- the promotional period. Then once you find out all that information, if your bill with your current provider is near the 0$ ammount call them and tell them that you have found a provider willing to charge you less, and they will sometimes offer you a deal to stay.

Tip Five - When you go grocery shopping, never take a trolley! Always use a hand-basket, it will stop you from spending more then you have to while you shop. Never use a list, shop by memory because you will always remember the 100% necessary things as you shop. Think taxes while you shop, some things are taxed and some things are not, but as you shop keep a tally of what you have spent assuming everything is going to be taxed at the register. This will allow you some breathing room at the register and let you have a few dollars left over so you can buy a bottle of pop or whatever pleases you.

Tip six - Brand matters not, always go for the cheapest brand you can find, they may not taste the same as a name brand, but they are cheap and allow you to stretch you budget that much further. As for us smokers, the cheaper the better, sure low end smokes taste like goat piss (Because there is probably some in there anyways) but a smoke is a smoke at the end of the day.

Tip Seven - Always file your taxes, you will typically always get money back, and you can get more back by asking your job to tax you more. That's right, ask your employer to take an extra $10 off of your pay into taxes it will increase your take back at the end of the year. Plus, if you file you become eligible for any government checks that come in, which is always nice.

Tip Eight - NEVER use money mart or similar services...EVER. If you are close with your employer, ask them for an advance of your pay if you really need it, and offer to pay it back over several pays. Most employers will do that for their employees because they remember what it is like to be in your shoes, if you work for a big company, talk to your HR department, and they can answer your questions.

These simple things have kept me alive and well for years, sure I don't have a lot of money but I have three well fed and healthy cats, and a wife going to college, hydro, food, and internet and I can honestly say I'm happy with that.

Demolition INC. Video and text review

2011-12-29T02:28:00.000-08:00

Note - I do intend to put a better video review up soon now that I know it works well :)

Game: Demolition INC.
Platform: PC (Steam)
Grab it here
Publisher: Zero Scale game development

Thanks for watching the review and at least pretending to read the text review. The video was only done in a hurry to see how well the video was going to work once I put it on-line, and future reviews will contain more then the first level of the game. However Demolition INC. did not require more then the first level because that is pretty much all there is to the game, you pretty much just do that over and over. As noted in the video it was a fun game, but the later levels get very frustrating, and needlessly complicated.

This is the demo review for my website, it's short and simple, please fee free to tell me what you think. There are 5 areas I will be rating games on.

Graphics - This is NOT a comparison to other games, it is based on it's own merits. (most games could be called ugly compared to games like MW3, BF3, and halo reach played in High def, yet remarkable in comparison to games like Final Fantasy I.) So I think the game should be looked at based on how it looks alone. Included in the graphics area are any visual glitches and clipping issues because I don't know where else to put them.

Game play - Is it new, is it exciting? Is if fast and fresh, or slow and stagnant?

Story - I will try to avoid spoilers, and will call spoiler alert before I get into one.

HUD - All games have them, some look better then others.

Unique features - If they exist at all, they will be put to the observation here.

More of the same, yet one of a kind.

2011-12-25T16:45:00.000-08:00

Well, my life in skyrim was fun to write at first, but now it just seems tedious, I may bring it back in the future, but Skyrim got boring after I beat it so for now...No more 'My Life in Skyrim' Instead I will be using this site to do reviews and in the near future, video reviews complete with footage. So for now keep your eyes to the sky, and your ears to the ground, and remember, whatever doesn't kill you probably missed.

Injury over Day six tomorrow.

2011-12-17T01:45:00.001-08:00

The title says it all, my injury is healed, and I am working on day 6 now. Clap for me and come back tomorrow.

Day six is coming so is Xmas

2011-12-12T04:11:00.000-08:00

I am sorry that it seems like I have forgotten about this blog, but I have not. I am suffering an injury to my left wrist that is making it very hard to write and game. I am truly sorry and I hope that you will tolerate a small amount of time away.

I am also happy to say that Christmas is almost here, despite not being done my Xmas shopping or anything like that I am very happy that it is almost among us. I enjoy seeing my family and friends during this time of year, I also like giving gifts to them even if it can be pricey. So the real question is; are you ready for this time of the year? Also if you don't celebrate Xmas what do you celebrate and what are the traditions for the holiday season?

My life in Skyrim day Five

2011-11-29T21:29:00.000-08:00

I know it's a few days late, and I'm sorry, between Earthbound and work I have not had time, but here it is Day Five.

Day Five

The dragon lay dead at my feet, I felt better then I had in ages, all the combat training and all the thrill seeking I had done in my youth was worth it to stand over this defeated dragon. I was going to harvest as much meat and scales off of the beast as I could, but as I moved towards the dragon it seemed to glow with a fiery red glow and before I could run or scream out in panic the glow overtook my body and it felt as though I was meant to stand atop the world as a man among ants. For ten or twenty seconds I stood there letting the feeling over take me, before I understood what happened; I was stealing the soul of this dragon. I had no idea why I was taking the soul of the beast, but I knew that I was. As I absorbed the soul the dragon seemed to burn up it wasn't just the soul of the dragon but some of it's presence. The scales withered away to nothing, and all of the meat was gone as well. A whole bunch of gold and even an odd looking dagger fell to the ground as the belly of the beast dissolved. I gathered up some of the bones and some of the scales that had fallen to the ground. I was hoping for some of the black ones that I had seen on the back of the beast, but was instead left with some emerald green ones. I took the bounty of the dragon and turned to walk back to Riverwood.

They must have been standing there in awe, but when I turned around there were three or four people that I remember from Riverwood standing there slack-jawed. I approached them hoping to pass but the owner of the junk shop stopped me.

"Did you just kill that beast?" His voice was quivering worse then his knees as he asked

"Yes." I replied trying to act all calm and reserved as if I did it all the time

"After you killed it, did you take it's soul?" He asked this time taking a half step back from me.

"Yes, and I took some stuff from the remains of the corpse too." I smirked as he took yet another half step back.

"Do you do that with people too?" Two of the men who had come with him had placed their hands on the hilts of their swords.

"Only kill them, that soul thing is new to me too, and I only kill bad people." My response was cold and dry.

The two men released their swords as I walked towards the shop keep. "It also had a lot of gold in it, not to mention some stuff that I want to sell. Now lets go back to Riverwood, and have an ale or two and then we can talk business."

It seemed that that was going to be the best solution for the moment as we walked I shared my story of the defeat of the dragon. It seemed that they heard the beast roar and came to see what was making all the noise and when they came into the clearing to see me best the beast. Of course that also meant that they watched me steal it's soul. We hit the tavern and I bought everyone in the place an ale for their day and another round for their evening. It seemed that it was a good gesture as the barkeep offered me a room in the inn for the night. I took him up on his offer but I still had business to attend to with both the shop keep and the local blacksmith. Two more tankards of ale and I got up from my seat, the junk shop owner had already headed back to his business and the blacksmith sounded hard at work banging away on some new creation. I headed to the local smith first, I was hoping he could shed some light on the dagger I had found. I approached him and he gave me a smile as I waited for him to be done hammering away on what seemed to be steel armor.

"What can I do for you lad? Honestly didn't think you were going to come back to our little town." He was tired, I understood the sun had nearly set.

"I was hoping you would be able to tell me the origins of this dagger." I said producing the gold colored dagger I had taken from the beast.

He looked at it for a moment before nodding. "It's elvish, that much I do know, anything else I have no clue. I work in Iron and steel. It may not be fancy but it's cheep and it lasts."

"That it does indeed good sir." I laughed with him as he handed me that dagger back. "Think you could make me a scabbard for it?"

He nodded and told me I could pick it up early in the morning tomorrow. I then showed him the dragon bones and scales. He smiled saying that a master smith could make armor with it. I went back to the inn and bought a few more bottles of ale, and some trail rations, I had been to Skyrim on a couple of occasions and knew it never hurt to be prepared. and went to the room that the keep had offered me earlier, I closed the door and laid down.

I don't know how long it was before I heard the door creek open, I kept my eyes closed as I heard feet on the ground, this person was trying their best not to be heard. I called to mind the fire spell glad that it was not dangerous before you cast it, or it would have set the bed ablaze. I Sat up pointing my left hand at the intruder and grabbing the dagger that was on my bedside table with my right. The person was clad in red and black armor, that looked very similar to the armor that the assassins that tried to kill me a few days ago wore. Odly the nordic woman who looked at me was not armed.

"I come in peace shadowscale. There is no cause for alarm. I am only here to deliver a letter, then I will make my leave." She was speaking in whispers for some reason.

"Then deliver your letter and make your leave assassin." I hissed my reply "I was enjoying the dream I was having."

She nodded as she handed me a wax sealed letter, when I looked down to crack the seal she had used a spell to become invisible and she left. I read the letter to myself.

'Shadowscale, you bested four of my assassins in open combat, as such there is an opening in the ranks of my guild. The night mother would be very happy to have a shadowscale within it's ranks in Skyrim. You will not be required to do anything to accept our invitation, and there is no way to opt out. I should be frank here this is not a request, this is an order. You killed members of my guild, and I need someone to do the missions that they had left to fill. A contact will approach you and tell you what you are to be doing.'

I crumpled up the letter and threw it into the fireplace laughing as it burnt. It seemed that my life in Skyrim was going to be very interesting.

2011-11-26T01:28:00.000-08:00

Most gamers over the age of 26 will know what this picture is. Today is supposed to be a 'My life in Skyrim' day but I have not been playing much Skyrim but I will be back on track and put up day five tomorrow. The reason I'm behind is Earthbound, sometimes I get sidetracked by life sometimes by illness or my need for sleep or rent, but this time I got sidetracked by one of the best 'pre-KOTR' RPG's ever made. Not everyone who has played Earthbound will share my opinion of the game, but that's fine too, the world is made up of different opinions and I don't really care what anyone else thinks, unless they agree with me.

The one thing I want to clarify about Earthbound is that well it was the best RPG I have ever played you can beat it in the span of a weekend, and the final boss fight is so dissolved from the body of the main story that it feels like you are beating a different game then the one you started playing. As for the playtime being the span of a weekend most SNES games were 3 to 4 hours except for the Final Fantasy games, and the first time you play it you should take time to talk to everyone in each city because the game has such a unique humor that I feel has been lost in the gaming industry as of late. Of course I can be burnt at the stake because I have never bothered to learn a foreign language and play Mother 3 (A japan only release) and I don't trust any 'dubbed' versions.

Earthbound has everything I love in a game, it has a quirky sense of humor, a fair and challenging difficulty curve, a story that you can fall in love with, and characters that are actually worth a shit. With the exception of the aforementioned final boss fight there is really nothing wrong with the game. I don't want people to go out and commit illegal acts to play the game, but if you can find a copy buy it, if you can find a ROM and emulator download them and play it. Perhaps the best game made for the SNES and within the top 5 games ever made. Everything about the game is unique, your 'favorite thing' becomes you PSI power, you 'favorite food' is what your mother serves you before allowing you to heal for the night in your home. It even asks for the name of the player about 3/4 of the way through the game and thanks them for being brave closer to the end. All in all, I recommend Earthbound to everyone, and parents out there, buy your kid a SNES and a copy of the game off of Ebay and let them go nuts.

In short Earthbound is great and give it a play.

What's your earliest gaming memory?

2011-11-18T04:12:00.000-08:00

For some of you that may be a fair bit further back then you want to admit, but so long as it was not playing pong and thinking 'wow what great graphics' then I'm sure you will fit right in. Actually even veteran pong players have a place in society, if it wasn't for pong and the good old-loading-ready-run of the C64 days gaming would not be anything of what it is today.

My earliest gaming memory was beating Final Fantasy 1 for the NES all those years ago, I kept getting so mad that I would erase my team and try a new combo of heroes. I don't know what anyone else used, but I had a white mage, a black mage a warrior and a monk. Now in my adulthood I pick up FF1 and play it for about half an hour and think to myself 'never again, not worth it'

So what about you, what's your gaming memory?

My life in Skyrim day four

2011-11-16T02:21:00.000-08:00

Day Four

The assassins and four of the hunters lay dead, and I was to blame. The assassins had come for me but they had no idea who I was. That proved that the dark brotherhood were poorly organized and probably a broken home. I would have to fix that sooner or later for better or for worse. There was no reason for me to stay here so after giving some nice words and even helping dig a shallow grave for one of their fellows I moved on. It took about three hours before i came upon a town, there wasn't much to it, basically just a shop a ruddy looking inn and a blacksmith workshop. The few people I noticed seemed to be friendly enough, one even welcomed me to their city. Riverwood, had a nice ring to it almost too bad that there were no empty houses that I could perhaps buy later.

I approached the blacksmith of the town and asked if there was a fee to use his station, he kindly said that I could use it if I wanted to, so long as I left it in good condition for him later. I knew what I was doing, in the army I smithed my own weapons and armor frequently. The only downside was that I had neither ores or leathers to make anything, and a sword with no scabbard or soft handle was not a sword at all. There was a store just up the street from the blacksmith forge perhaps he would have the required materials. After taking some time to talk to a local child I walked into the small junk shop. On the desk there was a golden claw shaped thing that looked expensive. The shop keep looked at me and asked if there was anything I was looking for. I told him I was looking for iron ingots and leathers both whole and strips. The grand total was 40 gold, I thought that I had made out like a bandit. Until I noticed that the iron had a lot of imperfections in it and the leather was from some kind of sheep or goat.

Back at the blacksmith forge I set to work, the lazy people who buy all of their weapons think they are made in a matter of moments but it could take hours. Sure I could make a crappy shank out of metal in a matter of moments, but a well crafted blade required time and love, like a nice cake. Two hours spent and my new weapon was starting to look more and more like a sword and less and less like scraps. It wouldn't be long before I could right all the worlds wrongs, and wrong all the rights in the world. I was the kind of person who didn't really care who won or lost, but that I was involved in the fight at all. Songs were not written for the winners, but for the brave. Another two hours and my blade was finished, keened and straight. It was the kind of blade one could take to the grave...if they died before they could make a better one. I cheated and bought a suit of iron armor from the smith he seemed surprised that someone like me would wear heavy armor at all.

I stayed at the inn for about six hours, had a few tankards of ale, some cheese and bread. That left about five and a half hours for sleep. After I woke up I walked out of the inn, flicking the keeper an extra gold for his services. I walked out of the city and headed for the foothills just at the north exit. Another four hours on the road and the foothills had turned into a winding mountain path I was nervous about the footing at some of the turns it almost felt like I was going to fall. As i came around another bend i found myself walking towards a plateau, it extended for about one hundred feet and was nearly double that wide. I thought I had found a perfect place to rest, but then I heard a blood curdling roar, as a dragon came over the south all of the basin-like clearing.

Drawing my new weapon in my right hand and knocking the hilt against the new armor I recalled the knowledge of the fire spell into my left hand. The dragon let out a roar that could have shattered a diamond, i looked it in the eyes and smiled. The dragon took off for the sky as I launched a line of fire at it, it was not even close to hitting it but I wanted it to know i meant business, that I wasn't here to screw around. This dragon was not at all like the one that had picked me up before my execution, it was smoother and had no hooks on it's back or face, if I didn't know better I may have even thought this was a young dragon. It swooped at me breathing a mouthful of fire in my direction, i rolled out of the way and launched my own bolt of fire back this time I hit the monster, but it didn't seem to care all that much. After a second swoop and yet another line of fire it landed about twenty feet away from me. I knew opportunity when I saw it and I rushed the beast letting out a yell trying to show him that he was not the only one around here with a brilliant set of scream pipes. The beast reared his head and began to let loose a stream of fire, I rushed along under him dragging my sword along his underbelly, that he felt. He rose up into the air as I lashed out with a blast of fire it struck him in the same place that I had hit it with my sword. I thought I was going to get out of this this unscathed but that was not going to be the case. The dragon's tail came down and landed square on my back, throwing me a good ten feet into a snow drift. I was unimpressed to be sure but I knew that the snow drift was a softer place to land then on a rock. The dragon lashed out another line of fire the snow bank was all that protected me this time. Iron armor was good for most things but it's ability to keep cold things cold was not one of them. The snow melted from the blast of fire and I stood up turning to face the beast. I rushed him again, this time I took my sword in both hands and buried it deep into the monsters nose, it would not be a killing blow but a tide turner. I used the sword as leverage as i pulled myself upon him channeling the fire in my mind to my right hand as well as my left. I Took aim and blasted the metal sword with a grand stream of fire. The sword started to glow white hot the dragon screamed in rage as the sword got hotter and hotter. It wasn't long before the dragon threw me off of his back, and it was even less time before he crashed back down to earth. He still wasn't dead but he was in pain. He wasn't going to breath fire at me with that sword in his gate, I had the upper hand now. I walked towards the dragon, this time I was arrogant I knew I was about to win. I channeled the fire in my hand again aiming them right at the dragon's head. That sealed the deal, the dragon thrashed around for a moment before falling limp on the ground.

I thought it was over but then something started to happen...

My life in Skyrim day three

2011-11-15T03:39:00.000-08:00

Day Three

Remember how I said it was the perfect place to sleep? Well the word i was trying to stress was in fact the was. Perhaps four or five hours later it stopped being the perfect place to sleep. I thought i could hear voices from just outside the tent, being in the army for so long made me a light sleeper I heard the weapons come out of their scabbards, there was at least four daggers. I hoped for two people holding two weapons each, but somehow I knew that it was four people stalking the campsite. The campsite had four tents each with three people, even for the most skilled assassins it would require twelve weapon strokes to kill off everyone, more like eleven because I had no intention of dying. It would all come down two process of elimination as to how many of the travelers would die before one came after me.

I counted the strokes, one two three four, one tent down it was the north tent that fell first, four strikes from professional blades, must have been all in unison and there was no screaming. They were picking the next tent I was in the south tent, that much I knew, one in three chance to be a partial hero to these people. The odds seemed stacked against me, but they picked south. I drew my weapon silently the ties on the flap of the tent were released and customer number one stuck his head in. He was not expecting me to be awake or armed, he managed a short yell before my blade met with his heart. It was a quick death, a warriors death to be assured. Perhaps if things had not gone the way they did we could have been allies, or at least rivals, but today we were enemies, I pushed him out of the tent sending one of his friends sprawling to the ground.

I let out a battlecry both to awaken the others but to try and distract them for as long as I could, tents were not made for standing, let alone fighting in. Three men dressed in black and red armor each with a red hand embroidered on the front. I knew the logo but I could not recall from where. I spent the next few moments of my life parrying all manner of attack even getting some strikes in myself. Spells were flying swords were clanking, but that was all before east and west did the smart thing. They give me a silent non and I hit the floor, the second I did all eight of them fired arrows. They were avid hunters and all of the arrows hit their mark and three assassins fell to the ground with me. I patted them down but all they had were some weapons I didn't want, armor that wouldn't fit and a wax sealed note. It was nothing fancy, just a marked note to assassinate one Drisstan Alavand...wait, that's me!

(Sorry this day is so short, day four will be with it I swear)