I have graduated from college with a bs in poli sci. Pray for mojo.

I watched Silent Hill last night, and I must say that it is the best game to movie translation ever, as well as a hell of a horror movie. I'm so impressed with the translation of this I'd like to discuss what they did right , because somebody finally got it. First, and this is the most important thing one can take to make a succesful translation, they found the balance between putting in content which was similar to the game, and taking liberties in order to make a succesful translation. I don't want to describe specific elements, because they would most likely end up ruining the movie for you, so I'll forgo that and simply prompt you to go see it as soon as possible. Second, the actors don't suck. I was amazed when I saw the cast, most notably Sean Bean. He is an amazing actor, and he plays the part of the concerned father wonderfully. Everybody else does a good job too, I was particularly impressed with the lady who played the main character. Third, the plot was a hybrid from the games and what would be cooler on screen. I don't want to ruin this either, so suffice to say it worked perfectly with what the game had to offer. The whole movie was just incredibly well done, and I can't wait to see what the dvd extras have in store. This movie means so much more though, the end of the stigma associated with movies based on games. Hopefully the Prince of Persia game works out as well, then maybe we can start looking like a respectable field for adaptations of intellectual property.

It's not really surprising to me that people tend to seek out games that parallel their real life tastes.  Jocks like sports games, car enthusiasts like racing, etc.  What shocked me was how this affected me, as I don't fit into any of the prototypical molds so to speak. 

Among some of the hobbies I enjoy, martial arts are one of my favorites.  Though I started with the intention of being able to snap necks with my toes, my taste evolved into the more stylish and physically demanding, a Brazilian martial art called Capoeira.  Though Capoeira has a variety of incarnations, the essence is basically that it is both a dance between two players, there is constant movement, and it focuses on gymnastic movements, such as flipping or cartwheels.  I've been doing Capoeira for about a year and some, and I've enjoyed it immensely, so when I discovered that Tekken has a character that fights using Capoeira, I got hooked.  I'd played Tekken before, but never really noticed until I was fooling around.  Since then, Eddie Gordo has been my man pimp, and I'm excited for the Tekken coming out on the PSP.

In addition to Capoeira, I enjoy breakdancing, though I can't find a good place to do it or somebody to teach me the harder stuff.  Still, I enjoy watching and performing because of its relative difficulty and exotic movements.  About a week ago, I found a upcoming game for the PSP about breakdancing, and I got really hyped.  It's featuring some of the greatest dancers in the business, slick looking moves, and wankers getting served.  I'm excited to see the game develop, even though it's most likely going to stink.

Obviously this isn't the norm for marketing, as I'm sure people aren't going to be secret operatives or warriors fighting the horde or whatnot, but games that cover real life interests of mine are exciting and addictive, as it gives me the chance to not only spot flaws or excellence, but also indulge myself in my digital skills. 

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6147678.html  Why oh why can't the GTA obsessed killers get the right person?  Christ, this guy is a putz.

My birthday was on the sixth, and my parents were kind enough to shower me with cool gifts, among which were a PSP and 4 games (Wipeout, Siphon Filter, Winning Eleven 9, and Lumines).  All of these games just blew me away; I knew that the PSP had superior graphics compared to the DS but screen shots do little justice.  In motion, these games are silky smooth, the colors bright, and the animations impressive.  Sound is incredible, with Lumines taking the lead as the game is sensory oriented.  WO, SF, and WE9 are all well done in this respect as well.  Controls, especially SF, are spectacular, surprising me as my previous run ins with the knub stick below the d-pad were dissapointing and uncomfortable.  Now it just seems like second nature.

I'm really excited, and I look forward to spending more time with it, but there is a slight problem when spending more time researching games; there isn't a killer ap.  Most of the games I want to play haven't come out yet (BBoy, Monster Hunter) or they are copies of games on other systems (Tekken, Street Fighter 3).  This isn't necessarily a purchase ending ommission, but it's slightly dissapointing that sony would depend so heavily on the hardware than come out with some heavy hitting software.  I had heard something about a psp mmo, but I haven't been able to find it yet, that's something that I think might be fun.

Overall, I'm extremely impressed with the capability of Sony's handheld, it seems extremely competent, and with a ton of new games coming out soon, it may finally be able to give the DS a run for its money. 

I've never been particularly pleased with internet explorer, I've always had the occasional problem that irritates me, but firefox was even worse; constant crashes, pages not loading, irritating as crap.  Today, however, I downloaded a new browser called iRider, which gives me everything I want, and I love it.  I've visited all of my normal sites, like bbc, gamespot, metafilter, etc.., and it runs perfectly.  They have an excellent multi-tab system to switch between web pages, browsing favorites is easy, it's perfect so far.  If any of you are interested in checking out a new browser, give this one a try. 

http://www.irider.com/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4849244.stm  I saw this today, and I thought it was interesting, though not surprising.  Enjoy.

Recently some people I know started discussing whether a ninja could kill a pirate or vice versa in open combat.  I started to think about this rationally, and my conclusion was that the ninja would be victorious.  Here's why.

The Pirate was a generally untrained but battle harty fighter, very spirited and conditioned to fighting through constant work and combat.  He could be considered the marine of his day, very tough, powerful, and formidable.  His specialty is the high seas. 

The Ninja was trained in the art of stealth, deception, subterfuge, and assassination.  His weapons were his mind, and sometimes a sword or throwing stars, though it varied depending on what persona he adopted.  Though they weren't focused to combat, their training made absolutely sure they were ready if a situation went down.  They could reasonably be compared to CIA agents. 

Should the two meet on an open field in broad daylight during "proper" dueling conditions with their choice non-ranged weapons, I would consider these combatants equal, but if it was a war between some pirate and ninja kingdoms, the ninjas would be victorious, because this would be their forte' to destroy their opponent from within. 

So that's my opinion on the confrontation between these two venerable professions.  What are your thoughts?

I find the actions of certain senators, most notably Hillary Clinton and Joseph Lieberman, to be decidedly foolish.  Their furor over video games rivals the most temperamental counter-strike player, with shocking tirades in different venues.  I've always supported keeping games like Grand Theft Auto out of the hands of young children and teens for reasons of maturity and concern, but the scope of political operations on the hill have taken an amazing turn.

Recently Gamespot reported that the two Senators above, along with bipartisan support, are sponsoring a bill that would allocate 90 million dollars to the study of how video games adversely affect children.  The purpose of which is reported, and believably so, to use the results in order to create legislation prohibiting sale or banning video games outright.  I find the very notion highly unlikely but not impossible. 

What shocks me about this is the amount of money these senators are willing to spend on something so petty as researching the harmful effects of violent video games.  Studies have already been performed extolling the dangers of unchecked play, but they aren’t enough for the political vendetta these men and women must carry out in the name of polling results. 

Never mind the deficits that our nation faces already from the prolonged occupation in Iraq as well as questionable domestic policies, these senators have ignored the fundamental problem with focusing on a specific facet of unhealthy activities in children rather than addressing the most important factor of all; the parents.

According to a CBS article, the parents are responsible for purchasing 83% of the video games in the US.  If this is true, then the parents hold a great deal of blame rather than the industry, which can only do so much to attract youths.  It’s not an unreasonable percentage either if thought about, games cost about 50 bucks new which is generally when junior needs to satisfy his itch to frag.

To satisfy the argument fully, the other 13% most likely includes a minors, who obtain the funds through whatever means possible.  If they are spending a great deal of time playing these games, shouldn’t the parents be aware of what their children are doing?  Certainly it’s not unreasonable to expect that parents hold some degree of power over their children’s activities, no matter if its playing hopscotch or killing hookers. 

Banning games or restricting what games can be made are unconstitutional acts as well as straw men.  Video games didn’t create violence, the demographics state that video games popularity can be measured against lower crime rates in young children and teens, and focusing on video games as a means of curbing violence is both foolish and distracts from the real problem of parents having, and consequently taking, less time to be active in their children’s lives. 

It’s shameful that elected representatives are taking precious time and resources to go after a political straw man, though it’s not unexpected.  I won’t leave an issue so important to me up to hope, and I don’t think you will either.  Find your representatives, write them an email, and let them know we will not stand for their uneducated assaults on our characters and past times.  

I've started playing Final Fantasy 11 again, played a bit with my friends and cuddle puss and I've realized just how player unfriendly Final Fantasy 11 is; you have to buy most of your maps, the game has an incredible amount of downtime, making money is hard as crap, and naturally benign monsters will constantly rape you in the hind parts.  I knew what was coming, don't get me wrong, I still think Final Fantasy 11 is one of the best mmorpgs out there, but when I first played it, this was my only mmo experience out there.  My special pumpkin lobster however, has had experience with other mmo's like Silkroad, Maple Story, and watching World of Warcraft.  What did she think?

Normally I would think that this style of play would be a turn off, the amount of time needed to play becomes increasingly rediculous as you attempt the story content of the game.  However, she has taken to it like a Fish would take to a tepid aquatic environment.  She hasn't outleveled me, because she has school and I'm on vacation, but I'm fascinated by how she's meeting the obstacles in the game.  The amount of time doesn't really stop her, she just does what she can, she's borrowed my old strat guide, and she's watching me play to understand how the order of operations are. 

I'm proud of her, because this game has a pretty substantial hazing period, punishing casual gamers with the fist of god striking them straight in their soft cheeto filled underbelly.  All my special carbonated orange slice did was step up the gain. 

As for myself, I'm still working on getting my sub job so I can level white mage (everybody wants a healer), but for the moment, I'm just so pleased as punch with the effort of my comfy pillow fluff that I can't wait to see how things go later on. 

If any of you play Final Fantasy or are looking to start, send me a pm; we're on the server Leviathin.