So I just finished a new vid blog, it's not the Microsoft rant yet buta topicthat really confronted me recently. That of misrepresentation of RTS servers. Granted this is not an OMG issue, but it is something to think about. Granted some of us may feel that newbs deserve to be pummeled since they are just that, but seriously gaming is about having a good time, unless your playing competitevly whats the point of being Korean about it? Not that there is anything wrong with the Koreans, but you get my point. That nation has made Starcraft a sport, and that in it's own right is cool. But seriously the average gamer isn't an expert. And for experts to lie about their skill in order to bait less skilled players just looking for a good time, not cool. Anyways watch the vid and form your own opinions, thats the beauty of Gamespot!

Keep on Gaming!

EDIT: The damn video uploads have been really wonky these past few days. As soon as they work I'll try to get it up. They seem to have fixed it, but once complete it simply reverts to the browse and upload video screen. It doesn't encode or post the video.:evil:

EDIT #2:!#@$&)(!&@~~~!!!!! Now it's telling me it can't upload the video becuase I've already done it. GAH! Alright I'll rename the file and hope that works :evil:

BF 2142 must have heard me :P. Recently the game has started to seize up. It has gotten progressively worse which I find very odd. A GPU driver reinstall among other things have failed to produce results up to the point to where it now locks up when loading a map. Very odd indeed. Anyways in any case all my other games work so I'm not too picky. Oh and I'm working on a new video blog concerning Vista, Microsoft, and all it's Windows for Games related news thats been coming out, culminating in to what amounts to two lackluster releases. Anyways more on that later.

Keep on Gamin ^_^

Well, not really, however there is a glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnl...... let's hope it's not an oncoming train. Irandomly decided to go check my Podshow creator site and lo and behold it's still there! So perhaps if I get off my lazy ass and try and fix Skype the long missed Common Gamer Crew will return to give the Podcast for The Common Gamer. So yeah, need to do some work there but it should be back in a short space of time, even if it ends up being only me spouting my random diatribes ^_^. Stay tuned!

Originally it appeared as if I'd be heading towards the Marine Corps. While I have the utmost respect for the Corps and it's members it just looked like it wasn't for me as the recruiter noted. After some more searching in the reserves, I have signed on with the US Coast Guard. Something about helping save lives instead of taking them has a bit more of an appeal. So I do my two weeks in Cape May here come June/July. So that's the correction. It's a little ways off but wish me luck ^^.

A recent Games for Windows article perked my thinking concerning that bane of all newbies: ganking. I should know, considering all the way from my humble origins in Trinsic to Sydney Earth Federal Base, I have had to face this horrible fate. For the uninitiated being pounded when you're new by a high ranking player is at best annoying, at worst devestating. I remember many a day when on my way to Trinsic being stopped by hooded bandit PKers. These high ranking crooks would freeze me in place beat me senseless and steal my belongings; despite my vitriolic protestations. The same occured in many other open PVP games that I joined, swords or starcruisers my hide would constantly meet it's end at the hands of these virtual vandals. From UO to EVE online, I dreaded going out of town, lest I loose my skin.

Now many a year has past and I am no longer cannon fodder. My current addiction Gundam Online reminds me of the good old days of open PVP not seen since UO. I now find myself become the very thing that I despised. I will skulk along the outskirts of a n enemy city in my powerful Mobile Suit, wait for a lowbie to come along and then POUNCE! Despite his pleas for mercy I continue to pump beam and machine guns rounds into his soon-to-be swiss cheese robot. As his Suit dissapears in a ball of fire I realize why those I despised so long ago did what they did. It's FUN! Many MMOs now have a PVP structures that protects new players and keeps them from being attacked. On the one hand I can see the appeal it also makes things seem....too much like a game. 'TOO MUCH LIKE A GAME!?' You shout. Yes' I say, it's not that I have hit my head too many times on my keyboard to cuase me to loose a sense of reality; it's simply that these games are meant to simulate a virtual life of a sort. WoW has struck a nice balance, but to be honest even that system feels too carebear like for me. That said it's this system that has made WoW so accessible and as such the massive success that it is. I find myself being drawn into the very MMOs I used to avoid simply due to their open PVP structure. EVE Online, and now Gundam Online. They make me value what I own, and make me fight to the death over what's mine. In WoW whacking a high ranker doesn't feel as satisfying as dropping a massive battlecuiser in EVE.

But despite all the philisophical reasons I may have to encourage open PVP I find myself comeing back to the central reason why I play in the first place. It's so fun. Sure there are those out there who say we'll leave newbies alone for the sake of some higher order morality, fine then. If you won't fry that newb in a Zaku I..... then I will. ^_^

 Does this sound too evil? Yes....yes it does.

So I'm back....again. I got a new job to pay the bills and am back with Total Access so my video rants and tirades can reach the starved masses again. Unless you haven't eaten in 48 hours I'm assuming you aren't one of them. Anyways as the salary begins to help my badly damaged bank account hopefull the podcast and several other things funded by me will get back online. Sorry fot the downtime people. Only warning I will give is that come around June/July I'll be dissapearing every two weeks for Marine Reserve duty. I wanted to serve my country and I'm doing it. During that time I'll text post as best I can but considering the situation I'd think that to be nigh impossible. In any case I'm back for the time being and assuming my computer doesn't explode I'll have a small vid blog (if there is such a thing) up soon enough. See you all.

I knew sooner or later I'd get the "you're an idiot" comment about the 2142 rant. As is common knowledge people tend to form an opinon of you in the first thirty seconds of meeting you, or in this case viewing you. I made it very clear that I might be wrong, that the game was good, and to form your own opinions about the game. All while not being influenced by me. I was not in any way attempting to dissuade people from playing what is in most respects a solid game. Granted some of the problems mentioned are the result of players, things which cannot be controlled by the games designers. Any more than AWM hackers in Counter Strike can be contolled by Valve. In any case my opinions are just that, opinions. They can be no more ridiculous than the next person. Especially on what is in many respects a subjective matter, while I may run the game at full graphic and audio settings, the experience may be entirely different than that of someone who runs it on lower settings. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I have an opinion on what can be a great game, based on my experience with the game and previous refrence points from others in the series. Dispute them if you disagree, but why one needs to pull out epithets is beyond me. This topic has come up from time to time, if only becuase the anonymity of the internet allows for it. People can be as mean as they want to be, without any oversight.

I'm going to shift gears here since I'm thinking about it; blogging. In many cases we see so many blogs that are baseless, factless, and in some cases just plain rude. As are some comments to blogs that we see. The problem of anonymity on the internet has led to this. Now I am not calling for full disclosure of who people online really are but it would be nice to see some civility come to the net. As there is no oversight the internet allows for any nutjob with an axe to grind to spew whatever they want and then not provide any evidence to back it up. In general we see this as fanboyism on this site, but take politics for example. In may blogs ot forum posts political affiliations enter into the arguement and most of the time only end up ruining things. Politics have their place, this can in some cases be the place for it. But when it's used in an arguement over BF2, or CS, or some other game it makes little to no sense except in that the blogger/poster just wants to start a flame war. Why? What in God's good name is the purpose of flaming? Don't people have better things to do with their time? These questions and problems might never be solved sadly; but in the very least we can raise awareness to them and counteract this growing problem. As the internet grows so will the nutjobs on it, the best we can do is to remain civil, thoughtful, and open. Accept that there are people who will never see reason; the only way to fight it is to not buy into the fight and just let it pass by. Consider that you probably will never see the poster in real life, what's the point in insulting, or in getting upset at them? There is none.

Sorry, didn't mean to preach. I do that too often. Well, I'll have some thoughts on the C&C 3 Demo, LOTR Online, and Supreme Commander hopefully in my next broadcast. Yes the Gundam Online review was done months ago but the more I review it the less pleased i am with it. To that end I've thought of starting a small series on my exploits in game, a sort of video log of what's going on. It may end up being horribly boring but if you'd like to see it give a hollar.

Keep on Gamin!

[video=cnJnkTP95bkKuT_d]

Here's my 26 minute diatribe about BF 2142. Unfortunatley in order to keep it under 100MB the quality suffered. Sorry about that.

I had a job. Had being the key word. School has taken priority but the bills did not stop with the job. Minor upkeep bills of Gamepot, the Podcast, etc have eaten away to where I may have to cancel Gamespot and the Podcast. I have very little cash in reserve. So if my account goes away it's been fun. Any assitance would be appreciated, contact me via PM if you want to help me out. This is not to beg  or solict it's entirely voluntary. Many thanks for all the comments. My blogs will be posted soon. Keep on Gamin ^_^

My 2142 rant will be posted here today as soon as I get back from class, I had to rerecord it after finding the audio was suprisingly quiet. I then realized it was using my headset's mic instead of the camera's. So I've redone and recut it and will upload later today. Apologies for the wait.