14,000 Shades of Grey

What I've Learned Since Super Bowl XLVI

2012-02-08T00:45:00.000-08:00

Alright guys. This post is a little late. I blame-- somewhat ironically-- videogames. Resident Evil Revelations came out last night at midnight, and, well... I've got 11hrs. logged thus far, despite working a 6hr. shift today as well. My eyes hurt from staring at a tiny screen for that long, but it's so worth it.

Anyway, this past Sunday was America's favorite non-religious holiday: The Super Bowl. I've always found it funny how for non-football fans, it's basically a second Thanksgiving, only without the awkward, mandatory family reunions and inevitable drama following. When my Packers lost in the playoffs, I skipped both of the conference championship games out of pity and self-loathing, but the Super Bowl? It was like I was morally obligated to be present near a television with food and company, if for nothing else than watching commercials and enjoying life. Of course, then I got into the game, as I always do, but it's still painful to talk about football after the way my team's season ended...

Where does that leave this post then? Why, I'm glad you asked. (I assume you did, in fact, ask. Run with it.) I tried to correlate what happened around the Super Bowl with gaming in some way that didn't involve Madden or the fact that NFL 2K5 is still the single best NFL simulator bar none. So I made a mental note of everything I've learned since the Super Bowl. The list goes like this:

Resident Evil: Revelations f***ing rocks.
Seether, much like Korn, should never, ever, ever pursue "remixes" again. Only Linkin Park is capable of doing this feat correctly.
Put the right music to any situation, and you will suddenly feel like a badass. I tried playing a Green Hill Zone Classic challenge on Sonic Generations, but this time with my newly unlocked "Sonic Boom" track playing in the background. I have never had a more epic-feeling GHZ run-through in my life. I decided to test this on my way to work today, and played this song while pulling into the gas station. I honestly felt like I was coming in solely to beat up the gas station attendant, insult his mother, and walk away in slow motion with a leather jacket over my shoulder. It was awesome.
Lastly... people like to hate stuff.

Point #4 is where I'm tying things into something relevant. Bear with me.

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Lend a Helping Hand!

2012-02-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

Even though my beloved Packers aren't in this year's big game, I'll still be watching said big game with lots of food and drinks available. I think I can tolerate Tom Brady and the Giants' mouthy D-line long enough for that. Should be fun.

But because of my full day, I won't be putting up any blogs. Instead, I'd like to appeal to those who have already read some of my stuff, or the few of you who've begun following my RSS feed or Twitter (I still can't believe I got a Twitter... the things I do for you guys...). Firstly, thank you. It goes a long way to have your site advertised by others free of charge. But secondly-- and I'm going to get a little greedy here-- we need more.

Don't get me wrong; I'd love to spout opinionated blogs for a few close friends and nothing more. I've done it on AiB for over a year. But I have bigger plans this time around. I've said it before: I want to make this site something special, something bigger. In order to do that, it needs exposure to people outside my immediate friends or usual communities. What I need is a few bored readers with nothing better to do taking to Twitter, or Facebook, or Google+, or their own usual sites/forums. Hell, I'll even make up sigs to use if you'll use them. To put it simply, if you'd like to see the site grow and have more content made, just tell your friends. It's simple.
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Blog Update: Reconstruction Efforts

2012-02-04T15:28:00.000-08:00

Hey guys and gals. Rather than shoot out another post (I've got one in the works that some may find very interesting; it's about Dragon Age II), I've been hard at work today trying to give the blog a few more features, including that fancy new navigation bar up at the top. While it isn't filled or completed yet, I have added a Top Blogs slot for easy browsing, an About Grey slot to take some clutter off the front page, a GFX Gallery slot to simply show off some artwork I've made (and will be making) and a Suggestion Box slot for, well... suggestions. Be sure to use them to your advantage when frequenting the blog.

I'm also debating using a different, fancier layout, though that would be a much larger project. The type of look I'd be going for if I switched now would be something like this or this, with some HTML editing, of course. In the comments, tell me what you think of those setups, or the one already being used. Or, if you can find something better, suggest it!

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PC Gaming Isn't Dead; It's Just Dead to Microsoft

2012-02-03T11:10:00.000-08:00

I've had my gaming PC for a little over three years now, though it's changed quite a bit in that amount of time. I'm very proud of my rig. I named her Patricia Claymore, or Patty C for short. Or PC for shorter. Or P for shortest. I'd post the specs for fun, but nobody likes a guy bragging about his setup-- and they like even less when another PC user comes in and one-ups those specs with his specs, etc. etc. And I only have a few measly sentences at the beginning of each post in which to capture your attention, so I really shouldn't let that go to waste talking abou--

Wait. Crap.

Well, if you've made it this far, kudos. Today's topic, kids, comes on the heels of the release details of Alan Wake for PC (coming Feb. 16 at $29.99), listed here. In case you don't recall Alan Wake, don't worry; it came out as an Xbox exclusive in 2010. It's 2012. Nobody's holding that against you.

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David Gaider Reads Fanfiction! (and that is so cool)

2012-02-02T16:38:00.000-08:00

credit: kittenmarsh

Not everyone's a fan of fanfiction-- and rightfully so; some of that s*** is downright terrible-- but I think just about everyone is a fan of game designers being approachable and helpful. So often we become used to the opposite scenario, in which we're fed PR BS that makes the creative minds behind our games sound like no more than the mindless avatars of their funding publishers.

One fully fictional example that has a whole lot of truth to it:

"Hey, Mr. Hudson [lead designer of the Mass Effect series], why did you include multiplayer in Mass Effect 3, a series built entirely on a story-driven, single-player experience?"

"Oh, we felt that it really adds to the game, and it's something we've always really wanted, and we're really excited." [Translation: EA wanted it in so the game could get a sales bump from players who don't buy single player games at full price.]

Note: This isn't a "multiplayer shouldn't be in Mass Effect!" rant. Just a rough example of PR BS.

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DLC: Developing a Loss of Credibility?

2012-02-02T00:26:00.000-08:00

This is something you'll find a rant about on any forum involving any videogames created this generation: downloadable content, otherwise known as "DLC". [Note: How "downloadable content" becomes "DLC" instead of "DC", I don't know. Just roll with it.] The rants vary in their purpose: either a game lacks it and the fanbase wants it (Super Smash Bros. Brawl), a game has it and the fanbase dislikes what it got (Dragon Age: Origins), a game has it and it's controversial (pretty much any game with day-1 DLC) or a game had it, and now it's all being re-released in a "complete edition", thus alienating original purchasers.

In general, DLC has been known to bring out the worst in online personalities despite their valid appeal to sales. People argue over the merit of the DLC, over the developers' pure intentions versus the evil publishers', over the pricing, over the timing, over the notion that it might be on the disc, over the mere fact that they had the audacity to put in X instead of Y, when any true fan would clearly want Y... If you've been on a gaming forum, you've seen it. I don't need to explain it to you. You've likely even participated in one or more of these discussions. I know I have. (See: Marvel vs. Capcom 3's bulls***.)

But I'm not here to rant about the coming of a past gaming god who'll rid the world of its DLC sins. DLC isn't all bad. It isn't all good, either, but it's up to us as a community to decide if it's something we need to fix, or something we need to deal with before it's too late.

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Free Dmaul1114! (aka, Xbox Live, stop being stupid)

2012-02-01T17:46:00.000-08:00

From Kotaku:

Reclaiming a hacked account is always a nuisance, but Josh Hinkle's nightmarish story of losing, reclaiming, re-losing, and then re-reclaiming his Xbox Live account takes the cake.

Settle in for a hell of a yarn that reads like a world tour of the Xbox's worst problems. We've got Russian hackers. We've got inexplicable bans. We've got customer service nightmares. And we've got the Red Ring of Death. Of course we've got the Red Ring of Death!

[source]

As much flak as Sony's received for their major hacking scandal that compromised every single member's credit card information, Xbox Live isn't exactly invulnerable. For awhile now, there've been reports about XBL accounts being compromised through FIFA hacks, lousy login interfaces, and now, the Russians. With love. While the quantity of compromised accounts hasn't come near the grand scale PSN suffered last year, this serves as a reminder that just because users pay for Xbox Live doesn't assure impenetrability.

Be sure to read the full article on Kotaku, in which the suffering XBL member recounts his story of being hacked, wrongfully banned, and left in the cold for three months after. Assuming that Mr. Hinkle [aka dmaul1114] isn't, in fact, a covert Russian operative looking to destroy the foundations of the all*-American business of Microsoft, then how Microsoft has treated him in this situation is ridiculous, and furthermore, unacceptable.

While I'd like to rant more on the subject, you can read the article yourself to find all you need to on the situation. Instead, Mr. Hinkle's predicament has sparked a rant on the issues presented by an ever-growing online interface in gaming-- this situation actually being one of them. Check back here for it tonight, and be sure to post on Kotaku in support of Josh Hinkle getting his XBL gamertag back. I'll update this post if I find another way in which you can voice your concerns to Microsoft. Let's help this guy out.

IGN says Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City "is in jeopardy"

2012-01-31T23:06:00.000-08:00

Another thing my usual readers should note: I'm a total Resident Evil fanboy. If I had to profess my fanboyism for any one gaming franchise, it would be Resident Evil first and foremost. No doubt.

This is why RE: Operation Raccoon City has me torn. While the yet unreleased game's existence is old news, I found a recent IGN preview in which the author, Richard George, complains that the game "fails to find a sense of gameplay that feels right, and can't even seem to recreate the atmosphere and environments that millions have come to love over the past 15 years," and that "a game this flawed has warning signs all over it." He has only played the first four levels of the game out of an unknown amount, and the game won't go gold for another month, but still. It's worth noting.

So before I go off on my little dissection of about what he's complaining, I'll get the obvious bullet points out of the way, just to get everybody on the same page:

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Supplicating super song suggestions, STAT!

2012-01-31T16:14:00.000-08:00

Anyone who'll be following this blog in the future will quickly learn that I have few loves in life, and one of them is my Zune HD. I don't care about your stupid iPod and its hip, fun white-out commercials; my Zune is better.

*ahem*

Anyway, I'm stuck in a predicament that, hopefully, y'all can help me with. It's simple.

My Zune pass authorizes me to do two things: 1) browse and listen to music on the fly from multiple devices whenever I want, and 2) download and keep ten songs of my choosing per month. While I can add whatever music I want to my library, only the ten per month that I choose to "keep" will be available if I choose to stop paying monthly for my Zune pass. Plus, the ones I download, unlike iTunes, are available for anything, not just the Zune service. I can share it with my brother on his phone, or with my friend's iPod, whatever I want. It's a pretty cool way of getting my songs without pirating.

So this is where you come in: I've still got 7 song credits left for this month, and they don't carry over. Meaning that by midnight tonight, I need to use these babies. I'm not sure what I want to keep out of what I've downloaded, and I'd rather find some brand new stuff I haven't heard before.

So, readers, what songs are out there that I should download? Throw some ideas out there!

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Survey for the cool people.

2012-01-31T10:23:00.000-08:00

I'm new to this hosting a blog thing, as I've made perfectly clear in just about every post I've made so far. But while I'm pondering where to go with this thing, I did have something to ask anyone who's interested in following my online adventures and participating in whatever I eventually start up...

What sorts of things would pique your interest and cause you to check back more often? This isn't necessarily for the sake of "popularity"; I simply want to make an engaging experience that people will not only enjoy, but want to check back on their own, and often. So here are some ideas I'm tossing around:

Twitter. Much as I despise the sheer concept of Twitter, I've found that pretty much everyone noteworthy has one, and it's a very easy way to build some sort of popularity among people. I think it's due to our society's extremely low attention span, but... eh, that's a conversation for another day. I'm open to actually using mine now if people will follow it.
Videos. I have a capture card that I never use and Magix's most recent video-editing software, which I barely use. I've always wanted to start making stupid Youtube videos, possibly videogame AMVs, but never got around to actually setting up shop to do so. If these would be entertaining for you guys, though, I have the time to make it work right now. Any idea on what videos you'd want?
Gaming updates. Much like what I tried to do with my C2C back in the day, I'm thinking of promoting a certain game I'm wanting to play, and offer any readers the chance to play with me if they wish. People took me up on the offer during Left 4 Dead 2 week, but other than that, it never really saw much popularity. So if people are wanting to see what I'm playing and possibly play with me, I can make updates and give on-the-fly impressions when new games come out, etc. But only if that's something you guys want.
Art shows. I do a lot with Photoshop nowadays, even though I'm no professional. Maybe I could make a post every now and then showing what I've done in GFX, or sharing what downright gorgeous work I've found online. I love visual media, and even though I can't really create much, if this is something readers like, then you know I'll deliver.

Anyway, that's pretty much it. Comment with ideas and I'll be sure to accommodate. I'm planning on making a longer post tonight on a topic that's pretty important to me; watch for it!

Introducing Staindgrey

2012-01-30T16:00:00.000-08:00

I have no idea why I didn't think of sharing this video for the opening post of my blog. OPPORTUNITY MISSED.

But regardless, it's still too perfect. This is the result of a bunch of swell nerds in General Silliness having too much time on their hands and working to create a videogame dedicated to the strange members and antics of the forum. While creating sprites, music and framework for the game, they actually stopped to make a teaser video showing how much they'd accomplished... and it starred me. Holy s***.

Kudos to those guys. To everyone else, be sure to check out All is Brawl, where these fantastic[ally creepy] dudes reside. Don't worry; you don't actually have to play Super Smash Bros. Brawl anymore to be a part of the site. None of us do.

Now that I've posted five times in the blog's opening day, I think I'm done. God had it all wrong; I don't wait until the very end of the week to take a break.

Lol Gamestop...

2012-01-30T13:34:00.000-08:00

Okay, before I share what I found today, I should prelude it with some information:

In case you weren't aware, Gamestop bought out the digital games distributor Impulse, and from that union was born a mutant Gamestop digital games distribution baby. It's kind of like Steam, only really, really bad. That said, they do have constant, daily deals, which they remind you about with a little desktop pop-up in the lower right corner, and I've gotten a handful of games through the service without too much of a hassle. Plus, the fact that my purchases add points to my Gamestop rewards card is also a rather good motivator for me to purchase through them.

Now that you know what I'm talking about, see if you can find what's hilarious in this image:

This is a screenshot of my laptop when I turned it on a few minutes ago. I was greeted warmly by the news that the Steam wannabe service was now carrying what we've all been waiting for: Steam games!

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Blast from the Past: FOX News Hates Mass Effect

2012-01-30T09:00:00.000-08:00

Alright, so, for the sake of getting some posts up and getting readers engaged, I've been searching around for old works I've done that I'd like to recycle (after all, Oregon is one of the greenest states in the nation... I threw up a bit typing that). One such work is this one, pulled from a group project from last year in which we looked at the notion of censorship in modern Western society. I'll likely pull a couple other posts I made on that blog for this in the coming weeks, but no need to bombard you with old stuff, right?

Keep in mind when reading this that it was written for a professor and a class who very likely hadn't played Mass Effect. Many of you have probably played it or know quite a bit about it, but I'm too lazy to actually go in and change things to accommodate. It's still an interesting piece (I think... biased...) regarding a now half decade old story, since FOX News hasn't really changed and videogames still get stupid amounts of blame for "corrupting our children" from conservative media outlets today.

Anyway, try and enjoy. There's videos!
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In 2007, Bioware released an ambitious role playing videogame titled Mass Effect, which looked to push the envelope on the believable by focusing on character interaction and enabling the player with the power of choice. These choices ranged from the mundane to the extreme, from whether or not you wanted to disconnect a call with your superiors to the life or extinction of an entire species. The plot plays out based on each and every decision the player, as Commander Shepard, makes, whether he even realizes it or not.

The game itself is a 20-50 hour experience, depending (again) on what you decide to explore or not explore. There is the required set of missions that assemble your team and pursue the main plot, then there is a vast amount extra to check out, from exploring new planets, finding artifacts and learning about the game's universe by speaking with teammates after missions, politicians before them or natives during. Needless to say, there is plenty of stuff in this game to keep a player interested, as every interaction varies from the last.

Now, hopefully this all sounds lovely. But what does it have to do with rhetoric in the news? Well, what if I told you that within that 20-50 hour experience of killing bad guys, deciding fates and learning about a wide-ranging fictional universe, there were two-- two-- chances for a 30 second sex scene? And what if I told you that those sex scenes could involve an alien? Or alien lesbians?

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Please pardon our dust.

2012-01-30T07:54:00.000-08:00

So, I'm new to Blogger, aside from a school project we did last year, and I've gotta admit... It's pretty snazzy. Easy to use, intuitive interface, plenty of options... It's basically the exact opposite of iTunes.

So, before I get to any big posts, I'll be toying with the layout, installing some widgets here and there, and simply setting up shop for when things get going. For any of you who've visited so far, expect changes, whether subtle or just plain hard to miss, in the coming few days.

If you have any helpful suggestions on how to layout the site, feel free to comment!

Now for a quick tangent: Did you know that blog owners can track virtually every stat they want? For instance, I see that there've been twelve people visiting my blog since its conception late last night, and of those 12, 11 of you are from the US (one from Germany; Hallo, Freund!), 9 of you found your way here through my AiB link, 8 of you were using Firefox at the time (3 were using Internet Explorer, wtf?), and all 12 of you were using a Windows OS. I'm so proud of you.

This is so much more fun than Facebook stalking old high school crushes and their ugly husbands.

And so, it begins...

2012-01-30T00:37:00.000-08:00

Hello, yet nonexistent followers. I'm not sure how to start this thing off with a bang. So...

...that'll have to do.

In all seriousness, I'm hoping that this venture will turn out to be worthwhile. I'm seriously considering applying for some sort of gaming journalism job, but would like a little experience in writing within the medium before doing so. I'd also like to cut down my absurd amount of time frequenting forums like AiB, BSN, Epic, Unity, etc. (which is precisely from where most of my initial followers will likely know me anyway).

So, what can you expect from taking time out of your busy day to come here? Well, here's what I'm planning...

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