Welcome to my extremely belated review of Borderlands 2. My quick review for those that liked the original Borderlands: BUY IT! It is bigger, badder, and funnier. That said, this game is rated M for a reason. There’s a lot of gore, crude humor, language, and suggestive themes. This is definitely not a game for the young ones.

Unfortunate for me, Borderlands 2 came out just a month after my daughter was born. Overall, right now I am playing just Borderlands 2 and Battlefield 3 in my spare time. One thing I learned by accident was that a Borderlands 2 session can survive through a standby/hibernation. That has come in handy many times when having to rush to sooth a crying baby.

This game is much more fun playing with friends, however I have had to play most of it solo. So far I’ve really only played the Assassin role, focusing on sniping. Now that I have just made level 42, I am strongly considering starting a different character before I hit 50. I really wanted to avoid “power leveling” my first character. I’ve been told that Soldier is one of the better classes for playing solo.

I think that the AI cheats a little bit. Just recently I was targeting some monsters but they were just blocked by a boulder. As I would move to get a clear shot, from very far away, they magically scooted behind the boulder. I’m pretty sure they shouldn’t have been able to see me (I’m sneaky!) so I’m sure they know from the game engine they are being targeted and act accordingly. What is odd is that some of the human targets are completely oblivious even from somewhat short distances. Some of the enemies are very hard to target, as they jump left and right, doing rolls and sometimes leaping high into the air to come crashing down on you. AI really has come a long way since the early days of Wolfenstein 3D.

One of my biggest annoyances from the original Borderlands was the matchmaking via Gamespy. Borderlands 2 comes with full Steam integration. Since almost all of my games these days are purchased through Steam, this was a big bonus for me. Another annoyance that was rectified was the lack of a mini-map. I would have preferred to have a Star Wars Galaxy style transparent overlay, but a map in the top right really helps out in navigating the much larger game world that Borderlands 2 offers.

One distinct difference with the sequel is the Golden Key. It will open up a loot chest with random rare purple loot. You can redeem Shift (free online service) codes for one or more keys, skins, and promotional items. Early on it was very hard to redeem codes because they were limited to XX redemptions, or only valid for a short period. Over the past few months, the amount of codes has increased, along with giving you more time. I use two sites to track codes. Disdain Gaming and http://shift.disdaingaming.com/ Slickdeals http://slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=5249922&goto=newpost?referrerid=60564 . For the average user, Disdain will cover you. If you want some discussion to go along with the codes, and to know if they’re dead or not before you bother to log in, check out the Slickdeals link.

Better loot makes a huge difference when attacking enemies at a higher level than yourself. Normally if you are following the “Story” quests fairly closely, you shouldn’t run into many enemies that are just too tough to kill. Toward the end though, if you don’t take on side quests to gain some more XP, your level will slowly begin to lag and it takes longer and longer to kill stuff. That is where the Golden Keys come in. A really good gun can let you take down an enemy 1-2 levels higher than you. Guys 3 levels higher are pretty damn hard to kill even with a great gun.

As for loot, Borderlands 1 introduced a fairly intense random generation system for items. The variety has been increased by another order of magnitude in Borderlands 2. I have found some very interesting combinations throughout my gameplay. One of my favorites was a rocket launcher with some insane “bullet drop” where shooting it was more like lobbing a grenade. I spent plenty of time practicing because if I could get the rocket to land anywhere close to the enemies, a huge nuclear-type blast would clear out everything in the area.

So far I have played through first playthrough and 95% of the first DLC “Captain Scarlett and her Pirate’s Booty.” I can’t really say much about the other character classes, but I’m sure that whatever your play style is, you’ll find something you like in Borderlands 2. What are you waiting for? Go check it out!

Well, we made it to 2013, narrowly avoiding the much anticipated Mayan Apocalypse. I’m not usually one for making New Year’s resolutions, but I am going to do my best to make at least two posts per month from now on. I’m still getting used to having much less free time since the birth of my daughter. Hopefully as she gets a bit older, I can incorporate some Science Fiction in her learning process. I’m already looking forward to Halloween. I’m not sure yet what to dress her up as. Any suggestions?

Anyway, I hope you all have a great 2013, and wish you will come back to see some more frequent reviews.

Sorry everyone for being MIA for the past few months. I have been having a very hard time dedicating time to this site since the birth of my new baby girl! Anyway, last week my wife and I found some time to watch the new Blood and Chrome web series on YouTube. Overall I think the acting, special effects, and plot are pretty good. I am glad to see that they didn’t try to make everything seem old. One thing that I found very annoying was the overuse of lens flare. I am pretty sure it was to hide the fact that there really weren’t any big sets to film on. Blood and Chrome is being released free on Youtube, then will air on SyFy then on Bluray, DVD, and digital download early next year.

I personally would have rather waited until all the episodes (~12 minutes each) were out, however my wife refused. I think it might be possible she’s a bigger BSG fan than I am. That’s saying a lot! If you are a big BSG fan like myself, you need to check it out.

I saw a preview for Real Steel a while back and completely forgot about it until I noticed it at my local Redbox. I didn’t really have high expectations of the movie, but I love robots, so checked it out. Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) plays Charlie Kenton, a washed up boxer that now competes in humanoid robot battles. After the embarrassing destruction of yet another robot, some guys track him down and tell him his ex wife died and now custody of his 11 year old son Max falls to him. His sister-in-law that wants custody, and Charlie wants nothing to do with the kid. Just as he is about to sign over custody, he notices she is married to some rich old guy. Seeing an opportunity to buy another robot, Charlie makes a secret deal for 100K to sign over custody. Conveniently, the rich husband is planning a trip to Europe, so doesn’t want the kid quite yet. The deal is 50K now, 50K at the end of the summer. Charlie reluctantly takes Max on the road to explore the underworld of robot boxing.

I kept thinking that Max was played by Jake Lloyd (Anakin Skywalker from The Phantom Menace) but knew that he was almost 20 by now. Still, I had to look him up after the movie and was impressed by the likeness.

Max (Dakota Goyo)
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1936502784/tt0433035

Anakin (Jake Lloyd)
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm317692672/nm0005157

Anyway, the writers really went overboard with Charlie’s recklessness with the new robot. Why would anyone take a title match with off the bat having no practice with a new bot is beyond me. The new bot is promptly destroyed by the reigning champ of the local off circuit boxing bracket. So, with a ton of money down the drain, it is time to search the junkyard for parts to throw together a new robot. They discover an old discarded sparring robot, mainly used to train the “big boys” with. There was a hint of some type of AI hiding inside of Atom, the salvaged robot.

Max – “Are you in there?”

Atom – <Blank stare>

Max – “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me!”

The movie could have taken a different direction at that point, but the idea really wasn’t explored any further. Instead, the focus is on Atom’s now-rare shadowing functionality. Basically it watches the owner and mimics the moves without the need of a complicated joystick or pre-programmed move combos. This seems to be a perfect opportunity for Charlie, the washed up boxer, to relive his dream. Instead, he is very reluctant to train Atom. The rest of the movie follows Atom’s rise to fame and eventual bout with the most badass robot in the circuit.

I wasn’t really expecting much from this movie. The plot was fairly predictable, yet I still enjoyed the movie. My heart got pumping during the various rounds Atom was fighting in, especially toward the end. One thing I was definitely impressed with was the special effects. I really couldn’t tell the difference between the animatronics and CGI. The acting could have been better. I kept having flashbacks to the whiny little Anakin Skywalker from The Phantom Menace. Despite some flaws, I still enjoyed the movie. I’m a sucker for robots.

I just ran across this excellent video on YouTube. I suggest watching in 720P if your connection can handle it. This music video parody of “Somebody That I Used To Know” sums up the feelings of a good percentage of fans that grew up with Star Wars, including myself. Check it out! Direct link or embedded below

A few years ago, the Science Channel aired an episode of SciFi Science, “How to Build a Lightsaber” hosted by theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku. He explained some theories that might be used and developed a rough design that should be “workable in our lifetimes.” Of course almost all of his episodes end up with that qualification. Last month it looks like there was a breakthrough in the hardest part of making a lightsaber work, getting the blade to stop at a certain point.

Although the most prominent uses for controlling the depth of laser cutting are surgical and clinical, Fraser said the team is “very excited about the potential industrial applications,” especially since compared to clinics it’s easier to get new technology into industries.

Unfortunately, the goal is to make the lasers useful surgery, not chopping off alien arms at cantinas.

Via  National Post

If you’d like to watch the episode I’m referring to, use this Google Search: How to build a light saber on Youtbue

After looking through my media center PC, The Adjustment Bureau happened to be the highest rated movie that I hadn’t seen in the science fiction category. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect, other than a 7.1 metascore from IMDb. About 20 minutes into the film, I realized that this was probably one that my wife would enjoy. The best I could categorize this movie would be romantic science fiction.

The Adjustment Bureau starts out by following the end of a political campaign for Senate. David Norris (Matt Damon) ends up losing the election because of a leaked photo of him mooning someone at his college reunion. Seeking some privacy, he goes to the men’s restroom to prepare his speech. After a while, a woman pops out of a stall, apologizing for the intrusion. She was hiding out in the men’s room to avoid security for being a wedding crasher. They begin to exchange witty banter about her situation and his unfortunate downfall.

This slowly builds up as some type of emotional connection is being created, then they kiss and are immediately interrupted by David’s campaign manager. The woman runs out, with David close behind. He’s about to do the cliche “Who are you, where have you been my whole life?” type of thing when security guards show up and chase her out of the building, and David’s life, presumably for good. I’m pretty sure he never even got her name. David goes out to deliver his prepared speech, but seems to drop the fake politician act and gets “real” with his supporters. This evidently is the result of his encounter in the bathroom.

About this time, I’m starting to wonder where the Sci-Fi comes in. Following the speech, there is a meeting between two guys in suits and hats on a park bench. An older guy talks to another that appears to be David’s handler. David needs to spill his coffee by 7:05 AM. Of course the guy falls asleep and misses his opportunity to make David spill his coffee. Instead, David gets on a bus and low and behold, who’s there? You guessed it, the girl from the bathroom, which turns out to be named Elise (Emily Blunt). The rest of the movie revolves around the men in suits trying to keep David and Elise apart.

I initially thought that the guys in suits were time travelers, intent on keeping a terrible future from happening, kind of like in the Terminator. The role of the Adjustment Bureau is a bit different, with some elements of the Matrix without the virtual reality. There is a “Plan” and “The Chairman” *cough* Architect *cough* with the agents that are tasked with keeping everything running smoothly. The encounter with Elise was part of the plan, but not David bumping into her ever again. Toward the end, it seemed like the writers were trying to get a bit more philosophical than a movie of this class could pull off. Overall, it was a decent movie, but not really what I expected. Guys, next time your girl wants to watch a “chick flick,” think about suggesting this movie. I honestly think it is one that both of you could enjoy.

One thing I didn’t expect when the credits started to roll was that this movie was inspired by the short story “The Adjustment Team” written by Philip K. Dick. I knew a good number of his stories had been made into movies, but I didn’t realize this was one of them. One of my favorite movies before I started reading his work was Total Recall, based on the story “We Can Remember it for You Wholesale.” I think I might start tracking down the stories that match up with movies and review those sometime in the future.

Where have I been lately? A number of factors have resulted in me not posting since December. One of which was that over the past few months I’ve been chipping away at The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke. At just shy of 1,000 pages, it has been my lunch time reading for a while now. There are a couple short stories that I plan on reviewing, as soon as I can remember to bring the book home from work. I’ve also been filling most of my free time, 177 hours now, with playing Battlefield 3 (my stats).

I’ve watched a few movies, but I didn’t get around to reviewing those. One was Gamer, which I didn’t expect much from. The other was Battle: Los Angeles, a cookie cutter “aliens attack, let’s fight back” movie. I didn’t really “watch” these as much as listened to them as I cleaned out my office. After going through my recent posts, I noticed that I never reviewed 28 Weeks Later. This was actually one of the sequels I’ve seen that I liked more than the original. I might have to re-watch, then write up a review. I watched a decent movie last night though, The Adjustment Bureau, which I plan on reviewing in the next few days, if not tonight. My goal for myself is to have it done before the end of the month. Thank goodness for leap years!

OK, enough excuses. Thanks to all of you that still have me in your newsreader. I’ll try to be better about posting updates in the future.

Earlier this year in the summer I went back to SWG for the huge “Oops, we lost all of your credit card information” 45 day trial from SOE. It seemed to be a last ditch effort to regain the trust of the consumers that Sony let down. I have went back to SWG several times over the years since I quit at the end of 2005. Most of the times were for free Veteran trials designed to draw players back to the game. Each time I returned, I played a bit, but decided that the game still was not worth playing. I found it interesting that toward the end of the 45 day trial this year, I was considering renewing. Crafting for Weaponsmith regained the complexity it had before the NGE, and if anything far exceeded it. I really could make a weapon that was as good or better than looted weapons or quest rewards. I also reconnected with some old friends, and made a few new ones. I was still on the fence when SOE announced that SWG would end on December 15, 2011. It seemed I dodged a bullet, avoiding being drawn back in.

Almost immediately, most of the old and new friends I met dropped off the map. The ventrilo channel we gathered on seemed like a ghost town. I finished out the few days left of my 45 day trial and decided it was a waste of time to renew if nobody I knew was still playing. Not long after that, SOE announced that active players would have billing stopped for the last few months of play. It took me a while, but I decided to renew just before the cutoff so I’d get those last few months for just $15. I figured I could play a bit more and about $5 a month wasn’t bad for any type of entertainment. Sadly, it seemed that nobody else saw the need to play.

I logged in just a few times over the last month, recovering some uber ship parts from a friend and blowing up the Star Destroyer in Deep Space a few times for old time’s sake. Out of over 300 friends on my friends list, not one was online until yesterday, December 15, 2011. Slowly, a few friends popped up on my last as the evening went by. I chatted a bit with Aliera (former Exiled Force guild member), Fragpuppie (good Entertainer friend from waaay back), Cobie (from PACE guild), Kobie (from PACE guild), and Icarus’ (Shipwright that helped me out during my 45 day trial over the summer).

I headed to my shop and took a few screenshots, drove around Coronet and didn’t really see anyone around. My next stop was Mos Eisley and there were maybe 10-15 people there. I hopped on the forums to see where the “events” were, and decided to go to the Sarlaac pit. There were maybe 15-20 more people there running around, with some infinite fireworks popping off every few seconds. I ran across one person that said he still had a few of my weapons from back in the day. That was very good to hear. I’m amazed that those weapons are (were!) still hanging around almost 6 years after I stopped making them. About 45 minutes before the servers were supposed to go down, I lost connection and the server showed up as “loading.” For a few minutes I figured that SOE would just write Chilastra off and not worry about fixing it. A few minutes later it was back online.

I logged back in and did a few chores around the house. About 5 minutes before the scheduled end, I hopped in and switched to the ventrilo channel for the old PACE guild. I asked where they were, and they said to come to Endor to watch the Death Star. I did not think I could make it in time, but with the use of my Slave I ITV, I quickly traveled to Bestine, then took the my Advanced X-Wing to the Smuggler Outpost on Endor. I walked up a hill to meet Cobie and Kobie for the end of the server. We took a few screenshots and prepared, wondering if there would be something awesome like the Death Star blowing up Endor or something like that. We were very underwhelmed when all that happened was a message popping up on the screen, seen countless times before, but this would be the last.

“Connection to SWG lost!”