Friday, December 20, 2013

Those small things

     I am an avid tech user and as such I like to make my experience as comfortable as possible. One thing that I have found essential to this is a good mouse. For years I used a Microsoft brand optical mouse and I loved it but the became to loose to use in games so I went on a search for the best budget mouse. I spent days on amazon and forums looking for the best. Eventually I found the Anker 2000 dpi Gaming mouse. This mouse is phenomenal, the rise on the palm rest was perfect, it had cool lights, and even had an option for on the fly sensitivity switching. The best thing was that it was only 25$. Unfortunately the wheel went out after a couple of months, I couldn't find anything on it so I assumed it was just my unit.

     Soon after I was on the hunt again. This time I found the Perixx 5000 dpi dual mode mouse, and to be honest I liked it. It was wireless to a degree but it also cost 55$. Not bad but it left something to be desired. The drivers were glitchy and ugly and often didn't take effect, not to mention the mouse is low to the desk, poor rise and was generally uncomfortable. I soon returned that for my current mouse.

     I recently used the return funds to purchase the Anker 8000 dpi laser gaming mouse and to be honest. I love it! The rise on the palm rest is perfect it has great color control, on the fly macro recording and playback(a macro is a string of keys, e.g. If I want to be able to press 5 keys on a keyboard with one press i can make a macro to activate all those keys.), 9 buttons and that on the fly sensitivity switch. It has served me well for a 40$ mouse. Well worth the value.

    What I am getting at here is that the right mouse can completely change how you use your computer, and it might take a couple of tries but when you find the "one", it will be well worth the wait.

Not my usual musings.

     When we stand up for the pledge of negligence or the national anthem we are stating our patriotic pride. Or is more happening? See, when someone sings at a sporting event or something like that we are expected to stand. But why? As Americans we have created this unspoken social law that states that we have to show ultimate pride for our country and if we don't then we are seen as anti American, your neighbor will look at you with a condescending look in his eye.
    
     This is propaganda being fueled by the community. Think about it, WW1 propaganda had many purposes but one major purpose was aimed at the people, the every day citizen. It aimed to create ultimate pride for their country, it was a subtle way to instill patriotism without seeming abrasive. Often it was combined with positive reinforcement, but today it is expected.
 
      I am not particularly proud of the things my country has done yet I stand. A lot of people feel the same way but yet they stand. I want to understand why this hasn't stopped. Don't get me wrong I love America, I have more freedom here than pretty much anywhere else, but what my country has done to get to where it is I do not like. I don't want to get political on this blog but I refuse to buy into this propaganda. I hope that I have enlightened you.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

1000 posts, Yay.

     Me and the co-owner of this blog have been watching eagerly to see when we get 1000 page views. After 4 months and four days we are going strong. For this post I will talk about something that has stewed in my mind for a while, the Xbox one launch announcement.


   We all know about the Xbox one's "colossal failure" at its announcement. All the DRM policies and such were a massive turn off, but! but, but, but, but. Consoles (and anything really) always has a massive following And people WILL buy it. Now lets say that one one side we have the people who Had the 360 and will FOR SURE buy the one despite its flaws. Now on the other side we have people who have been looking into the one, they are people who are new to gaming or people who have owned other consoles that aren't Microsoft's. These people will likely(more will than not ) buy it. Now when the news of its flaws from its debut reaches these two group of people, The die hard's will argue and buy it no matter what. The Others will be turned off, some of them will buy it, but a large number of them will just say "no". Now, when Microsoft changed a lot of things, supposedly "taking into consideration what the fans think" All of the peoples views change and a third party emerges. Group 1 stays the same. Group 2 will have more people considering buying it and more who WILL buy it than ever before. And on to the third party, These are every day people, not really gamers or against it. Just normal people. These people see what kind of reforms that Microsoft is pushing and suddenly the One seems a lot more attractive. This may be a stretch but I don't think so, Microsoft has too much money and is too large to make a move like that and think it will work.

    Been working on that one for a while so, yeah. tl;dr

Friday, December 13, 2013

I AM FIRE: The Hobbit, The Desolation of Smaug

   The other night, I went to the midnight premier of what I believe was the most enjoyable movie screening I have ever been to. People were dressed up, everyone had a good time, and (of course) we all got to see the insanely amazing new movie "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug". Right off of the bat, I would like to point out I am a die-hard Tolkien-ite, so my review will be somewhat...biased. And as you might expect WARNING: HERE BE SPOILERS. 

Movie Review #3: The Hobbit, The Desolation of Smaug


Sunday, December 8, 2013

The Movie On Fire: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire

    Hello everybody, it's me again with another one of my quaint little movie reviews. This one will be on the (somehwat) newly relesed "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire". And as before WARNING: SPOILER TERRITORY AHEAD.

                                Movie Review #2: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Friday, December 6, 2013

Here it Comes: The New "Amazing Spider-man 2" Trailer

     First off, I would like to apologize for my lack of posts in the last week...month...2 months. I have been awfully busy with schoolwork and haven't had much time to post. But hey, I'm back!

     Anyway, as the title suggests, this article is about the brand new, explosive, downright freaking awesome new "The Amazing Spider-man 2" trailer, which was just released yesterday. After having watched it about 4 or 5 times, this has really solidified my opinion that this Andrew Garfield Spider-
man reboot is FAR superior to the original Toby Maguire trilogy. I mean, we haven't been forced to watch Garfield break down and sob like a moron yet, so that's good right? I'm sorry, I just think Maguire has a dumb face. And Emma Stone is infinitely better than the ever screaming Kirsten Dunst.

     Another thing I enjoy in the reboot that was fairly absent in the original trilogy, was the arrogant cockiness of Peter Parker/Spider-man. This is something I think Andrew Garfield pulls of very well, while it was mostly nonexistent in the original trilogy.

     Last but not least, my absoloute favorite thing about the trailer is the Easter eggs that hint at the coming of the "Sinister Six", a sort of anti-Spiderman Avengers, you might say. Anyway, here is the trailer and enjoy!The Amazing Spider-man 2 Trailer


Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Longevity of games and how platforms affect it.

       I am a heavy gamer and thus spend a lot of time online. Online multiplayer spans many types from competitive to cooperative and they both play differently to the longevity of the game. One game I would like to highlight is Halo. Not 4,3, reach, odst, or even 2. Just Halo CE, a game that launched on the xbox in 2001 and changed the gaming world forever. The game had an along side launch for the PC and even had exclusive maps. This makes the game nearly 13 years old now and you would think that that's it right? No. While the Xbox Live service for the xbox was shut down many moons ago people still play it online, lots of people. The last time I logged on to play an online match of halo ce there was more than 450 servers. 450! We have seen console games abandon and shooters thrown to the side for the sequel that comes out a year later later, but for a nearly 13 year old game to have more than 450 active servers? That should speak to the longevity of the games on pc. I have witnessed console gamers exclaim at how amazed they are that a game that is more than a year old still has an active community. that is nothing to sneeze at. I believe that the console, if it wishes to survive, needs to allow user created servers. It is what keeps a game alive once the publisher/developer forgets about it.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Customer service

I buy things online a lot. Almost always from Amazon, and let me tell you that they are good. I have always gotten quick responses and and great results. Example: I tried to buy some music using promo codes and while the codes seemed responsive they charged my credit card. The let me know that the codes where inactive when I asked and they refunded my card and gave me 5$ free for using on their mp3 platform. More companies need to learn that even after someone buys your product that you do your damnedest to make them want to keep using your services.

Another example would be the company Anker. They reply within 24 hours, they are willing to help, and they are nice. They know that if you are having issues that it is their job to help you out. I recently had an issue with one of the mice I bought from them and they where willing to refund and pay for the shipping.

These companies are to be trusted and have proved it time and time again.

Monday, November 18, 2013

Tech time: Next-Gen consoles.

The next gen consoles are launching this holiday season. First is the PS4 which launched on the 15th. And second is the Xbox One, launching on the 22nd. Both of these will be wildly successful but as different as they are that run on very similar hardware. Im going to talk about the hearts of these machines.

     AMD is a company that makes computer possessors, the control center of any device. They also make Graphics cards, they power all those textures and models in games. For simplicity sake I will refer to the GPU(graphics card) and CPU(Possessor).

     The two major companies that make CPU's are Intel and AMD. Traditionally Intel performs better but cost more and the opposite is true for AMD. I personally am a fan of AMD because they are a forward thinking company and Il tell you why. AMD makes this little thing called and APU(Advanced Processing Unit.) This physically looks like a standard CPU but it acts like a CPU and a GPU in one. It is a low power consumption alternative to owning the two apart. They are also dirt cheap.

     This is important because the Xbox One and the PS4 both use them. The top of the line APU available for consumers is a quad-core. Now with this in mind the next-gens run on a beefed up 8 core. This is kinda crazy and will offer a lot of possibilities for developers in the future. The graphics power behind it isnt amazing but it gets the job done well.

    If I had to put my money somewhere(excluding pc gaming) it would be in the Xbox One. In my experience the fanbase is more "loyal" and Sony is a bit unstable and it isnt known exactly what the future holds for them.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Indie hour

On this Indie hour we will look at Auditorium by Cipher Prime. Control light to make music, different colors make different loops and when they all combine you are left with a beautiful light show and a sweet tune. I, in retrospect, cant think of any point when the game got repetitive or boring. The game is 7$ right now on steam and is a nice break from from the wave of generic shooters. I highly recommend Cipher primes other works, they have lots more and you will be hearing about them here very soon.


Link dump:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/205870/

Hotline Miami

     A haze of colors and blood, swinging your bat and pumping your assailant full of lead. Pulsing music fills your ears, its a little distracting but it keeps you going. Your phone beckons but who waits on the other end is a mystery. Dead hookers a DeLorean, and animal masks, this is  Hotline Miami.

     Hotline Miami is a top-down "helicopter view, or imagine the camera is hovering directly above the character pointing down" there is death, the struggle of a man who is in too deep before it begins, and some kick ass music.

    The game takes place in the 80's and is so psychedelic and trippy at some points it is like playing a fever dream. The game is 10$ on steam and is worth every penny. My rule is that a game has to either give me equal or more hours of entertainment to how many dollars went into buying it OR has to be really good, enough so to make up for the short play-time. This game is a shining example of the second option.

    Essentially, BUY IT. it will run on any low end system and will give you one hell of a ride.

  Link dump:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/219150/ store page.

A little problem I have

I'm not sure if you can read the announcement on the Metro Last Light tile, if you cant open it in a new tab. My issue is what it says "Now available on Linux, Mac, and PC" now here's the thing. A pc isn't an operating system. Mac OSX+ and Linux are operating systems. A PC is capable of running Mac OSX+ or any Linux distribution(version) in fact all Linux distros (term specifically used for different versions of Linux) are designed for a PC. Aside for android but that's kinda different. When people refer to a PC as an operating system or they say "Mac vs PC" they have no idea what they are saying. its annoying and kinda movie studio lawyer in where you question their understanding of their designated medium.

        If anyone who has hands in this industry ever please this then please help people understand.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Tech war: Console vs PC

     The battle of console vs pc has existed for a long, long time. Each platform has their pro's and con's and today I will objectively look at each.



    First off I will talk console(Xbox 360 and PS4). The console is simple, it is a controller with a set number of functions and it requires no effort from the user. This makes it easy to just buy a Console and plug it in, easy low effort, low yield gaming. Price is also a big factor, 200-250$ for a full fledged gaming system. That is great, its an easy access platform that, even though im a pc gamer, i think every one should have as their first gaming experience.

   Now its PC's turn. The pc is a whole different ballgame, it requires a lot more work but it is higher yield. One of thee major things about pc is the controls. A mouse is very precise, more so than a joy stick at least and a keyboard has a lot more room for inputs and key-binds. Pc gaming is also, in the long run, cheaper. games are cheaper and upgrades aren't necessary very often. A pc also gives the user a learning experience and can help the user learn a lot about computers and could even help them get a job. Content creation is all on pc (mods, making games, etc). And a mid-ranged pc will out perform a console any day in terms of graphics, and game-play.

    The cons of a console include, the worst community ever, not to generalize but there is a lot of children and it gets old fast. I don't like getting death threats from 12 year old, it isn't fun. Graphics, im no graphics nut but they do enhance an already great game and console just cant deliver. Controls, games for console like first person shooters are designed for mouse input, the twitch ability just isn't there. Library, pc has a whole library of indie games and more titles are released every day, weather they be indie or big name. (Xbox only) Paid subscription, it sucks. Thats it.

    Cons of pc gaming include, Price. A "gaming pc" that is fully capable of any game at max settings could cost about 1500$. an pc that is about 2/3 of that ability is about 500-700. Thats about it, you get cheap games, indie bundles, an active and creative community and mods. Oh man mods.

    A "mod" is a customization of a game usually made by a group of community members and they truly enrich the game experience.


Ultimately it is your choice. Just make the right one.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Windows *7* 8

Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted in a while but here you go.

I am an avid user of windows 8 and with the release of 8.1 I am happy as ever but it could be better. I have been using windows 8 as an alternate windows 7(best this to his shelves since XP) besides, why wouldn't I. Windows 8 is faster and more secure, ultimately better. There is however a trade off, Metro. Metro is the "square OS" that windows has bundled with windows 8 and I don't like it, i just don't use it. It confuses me that so many people hate windows 8, it runs all the same programs as 7 and is faster. For those who just wanted a faster windows 7 out of 8 there is salvation, startisback. Startisback is a program that can completely eliminate all traces of windows 8 with no hassle (other than the price). It lets you disable hot corners (when you put your mouse in a corner an irritating stuff starts cluttering the screen.)
This is an image of my windows 8.1 desktop.

The price for 2 licenses is 3$ and for 5 it is 5$. cheap, worth it, get it. i would get five in case I to buy more computers in the future, or maybe a tablet. As a serious tech user I recommend.




Link Dump:

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Things Go Wrong In SPAAAAAACE! Movie Review: Gravity

     This is my first attempt at a movie review, and as I do more and more I will (hopefully) get better and better at them. In other words, if it sucks: let me know what I can do to improve. Oh and I will warn you right now SPOILER ALERT.

    Movie Review #1: Gravity

Space Sandra Bullock and Space George Clooney...in SPAAAACE


      The other weekend I made a spur of the moment decision to go see the new movie "Gravity" starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. If it hadn't been one of those spur of the moment things, I probably wouldn't have gone to see it, as its really not my type of movie. But after I saw it, I was fairly glad that I did.

Plot: 4 out of 5.
     The plot of the movie was good, but not amazing. I was entertained, it kept me actually wondering what would happen next, etc etc etc. I really did like the aspect of the entire movie (minus one scene) in space. However, I did get a feel much like that of how I felt while I watched "Armageddon":  WHY IS EVERYTHING GOING WRONG? I mean, seriously, how many things went wrong for these astronauts?! Too many

Character Development: 3 out of 5.
     I felt the character development was lacking in the fact we only had 2 characters in the entire movie. Okay, yeah, there's one other guy who's there for like the first 10 minutes, but then he dies and we never hear any more about him. And I also felt like I didn't really click with the protagonist, Dr. Stone, but maybe that's just me. I did love Kowalski though, you can't NOT love him. Adds some much needed comedy and heart to the movie.

Graphics: 5 out of 5.
     I'm not going to lie, I hate Imax and 3-d movies. That being said, this is the kind of movie I wish I would have seen in  Imax and 3-d. Anyway, the graphics were stunning, the views gorgeous, and there were some very creative point of view shots. All in all, some of the best graphics I've seen in a realistic fiction movie. 

Acting: 4 out of 5.
     The acting was well done. Again, good but not amazing. I have no complaints, but nothing to rave about, with the exception of George Clooney. Absolutely did a perfect job in this. In fact, I liked his character more than the protagonist.

Overall: 80 out 0f 100

The Stanley Parable

Back in 2011 a mod for the game Half Life 2 was released known as The Stanley Parable. The experience lasts about 30 - 40 minutes but it is a solid 30 - 40 minutes. 6 Endings each with full dialogue and a new take on first person narrative at the end, it is diffidently worth your time.

             The game possesses great charm, while graphics and things of that nature may seem primitive the narration is the superb, it surpasses all games that i have played with flying colors. After playing i can still hear the narrators voice, it is hauntingly soothing. It also won Smartest mod of 2011.

            The reason I bring it up is because the developers(Galactic Cafe) have pulled together and have made a standalone game. This release will be different, deeper and with a lot more dialogue. If you are interested the demo is available on steam right now. Full release is in 1 day! now none of my friends are excited as me about this but they don't get to rain on my parade. Speculated price is below 20 but no price has been announced officially.

           The demo, contrary to other demos, isn't the first 10 minutes of the game, not just the tutorial but a full voiced fully mapped narrative experience that contains nothing from the full game, no spoilers here! In total the demo is about 20-35 minutes depending on how you play it and how many secrets you find.




Link Dump
Galactic Cafe Developers
The Stanley Parable mod for Half-Life 2 - Mod DB
My steam name: mlp_midnaspet


         

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL

So this last weekend Pokemon X and Pokemon Y were released, this for me is a huge release. Not many people I know are into Pokemon and less have a 3DS but if you own one and have played any Pokemon game before, you owe it to yourself to buy it. The Story (no spoilers) is very light, its a return to older games, possibly to contrast the dark story of black, white, and its sequels. This game contains all generations and is based in a French type environment.

            I have been playing Pokemon since blue(im not actually old enough that was just my first) and have played my way through the years and haven't been this giddy to play a Pokemon game since blue.
A major complaint of mine and others with the last two games is that the Pokemon sucked, one was an ice cream cone, another was a garbage bag, it was bad. But in this game instead of adding 150 terrible Pokemon they added 70 good, original Pokemon. Quality over quantity.

           The Pokemon in this game, instead of being 2d sprites, are rendered in full 3d and man some of them were cute before but now I wanna hug 'em all. The art style is a cell shaded  style and it works, well. Also there is only so much graphically that the 3DS can do. Speaking of the system, the 3d can only be used in contextual areas, sad but its ok because no one uses the 3d. Also if you turn on the 3d during a battle the fps drops down to about 15-, not very cool.

           All in all I give it a solid 4.5 out of 5. Its awesome but a little bit of detail here and there could make this game shine a whole lot more.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Don't Wake the Cumber-Dragon!

 
You woke the Cumber-Dragon...
  I am not sure if you all are aware or not (I would hope you are aware), but we have been shown Benedict Cumberbatch's voice as the fiery dragon Smaug. As amazing (and just generally nerdgasmic) as this voice is, that's not the main thing I'm excited for Cumberbatch to do in the upcoming Hobbit movie.

      The main thing that nearly has me crapping my pants in excitement is the fact that our beloved Mr. Cumberbatch is also going to be voicing the shadowy Necromancer (SPOILER ALERT: He's actually Sauron). Which, other than "I seeeee yoouuuuuuu" and "Aragoooorn", Sauron didn't really have any lines in the main trilogy, so its going to be very fun to see him with a few more lines.
   
     If you haven't seen the newest Hobbit trailer, I will be oh-so kind as to include a link here. And as always you can see how many days we have to wait until the movie is released over in the top left corner. That's all for now!

-Time to "abandon ship",
     The General

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Video games and violence.

To start i know that every gamer and their grandmother has disused this subject but i don't care. The subject is not as complex or as touch as fox news would have you believe. The main issue is children, people claim that "video games corrupt children" and "they promote violence". One game that comes into question a lot is the Grand Theft Auto games, they are violent, have large amounts of sexuality and drugs and shooting lots and lots of shooting. This scares the sheep that seek to control video games it scares them into thinking that games are the problem, they mirror real life tragedies right? Yes they do, but mirror and promote are different things. The games are set in a realistic setting with npc's who follow traffic laws to decent object physics, and you can do anything if you can do it in real life you can do it in GTA, example you can hijack a airliner while 2 friends are throwing grenades down below. In all seriousness its an amazing game and really showcases what games can do. However you might hit some poor person in the head with grenade and this is the point at which controversy is born.

            People want these games banned because the "corrupt children", im going to show you the box for GTA 4, do you see that M in the bottom left corner,Yeah when parents but this for their kids they should know what they are getting into. Countless times a Gamestop employee has warned a parent multiple times about the content of the game that they are buying for the 12 year old standing next to them, and countless times they buy it, then later freak out when their son shoots up a strip club. This is why there are complaints, its their faults for putting these ideas into children's heads not the games.

          On the subject of ideas, it is said that these games plant ideas of violence in children heads, but ideas are strictly in the mind, they have the opportunity to be fulfilled but in reality, they cant, especially by our nations kids.

          We can look at these games in another light. There is a college professor that has a 3 year old, he sits down his child and plays GTA. What he does is he drives around the map,following traffic laws, and has his child yell out the colors of the cars, and even sometimes the makes and models. This is an excellent way for games to be used for good, instead of just entertainment value. The sheep who shudder at the sight of a violent game need to realize that video games are only bad is used improperly, or just looked at from a scared sheep-like point of view.

Monday, September 30, 2013

Podcasts.

Most of us have probably listened to podcast, be it audio, video or some other crazy format. Now some of those who have listened to podcasts listen to a particular podcast or podcasts religiously. I am one of those. For me but maybe not for others the podcast i listened to a particular podcast all day everyday. everything i did everywhere i was i just enjoyed listening to the voices of others. This as you might guess is because i spend a lot of time alone,interjecting myself into conversations that im not actually in. Which brings myself to the point of this article. I have been listening to a podcast called The Internet Box, very funny i highly recommend it, anyways i found out about this podcast about a year ago and was hooked immediately. The podcast just hit episode 100 about 2 weeks ago and they just stopped, no more internet box. The host and our overlord Mike Kroon still hosts the site and is active in the community, so that's nice. Recently a link just appeared on the site called The Experiment™ i don't know what it is nor does anyone else, but needless to say im excited.





and thats how fast my train of thought can be derailed.








also my life is in pieces because of IB withdrawal.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

I Can't Handle the Excitement! (New Space Marines & a New Transformers 4 Poster)




As all of you Warhammer 40k fans will know, this past week has shown us the rebirth of GW's poster children, The Space Marines, by giving them a brand new codex with a slew of new models! Unfortunately, I have not yet got my hands on an online copy of codex itself, so I can't praise/whine about it just yet (cover art looks nice, though), so I will proceed to praise/whine about the new models!

 1)The Stalker/Hunter Tank:
For this first model, I am neutral about it. Looks fine (by no means amazing), but maybe a tad pricey at 65$ per tank.
 2) The New Sternguard Veterans:
I am loving these models, for many reasons. Mostly because they are finally plastic (I can actually convert them now (and they arent overly frustrating to put together)) and look just as nice as the old ones (albiet  slight price increase, I believe)

 3) The New Vanguard Veterans:
Also loving these just as much (maybe a little bit more) than the Sternguard (I've always loved my jump packs, so i may be a tad biased). However, they are 10$ cheaper then their shootier counterparts.
 4) The New Librarian Model:
This model is alright, I enjoy it for the most part, but I am not a huge fan of the cherub and beard.

5) Centurions:
They bring to mind the phrase "Space Marines....INSIDE Space Marines" (from Flash Gitz "Inside GW" video, if you haven't seen it, go watch it now). I dislike them for a multitude of reasons. They are way too damn expensive (95$ for 3!!!! I remember when I could get a whole Battleforce for that price), they look too bulky, the weapons just look dumb, and the concept of it is (in my opinion) stupid. 'Nuff said.


6) The New Captain Model:
I like this model, better than the old captain model, because this one really has got all the cool @$$ decoration, awards, cool helms etc etc. The only thing I dislike about it is the fact that there is NO other options, other than a choice of which head you pick (out of 2).




7) The Reclusiam Command Squad:
I REALLY like the new Chaplain model, but it is so typical of GW to make sure you can only get a 20$ model by buying a 90$ kit with other stuff you may or may not need.



Anywho, that's all I have to say about Warhammer for now. In other nerd news, a new teaser poster has been released for Transformers 4, along with the upcoming movies title: Age of Extinction. I am still pissed off that they degraded Megatron and then killed him off, but nonetheless I am very excited about this movie. Hopefully it will be better than the last 2.
This here is the new poster

This is the older (but (IMO) cooler) poster

-Time to "abandon ship",
     The General

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Oldies but goodies.

Im going to start off this little segment with a little 9 year old game called Half Life 2. HL2 is a story driven action-shooter that tells a deep story with characters full of more humanity than most people you will encounter on the street. For some people amazing gameplay and story isn't enough so Here's a screenshot of the game. Pretty good but.


Down here on the bottom is what is called the cinematic mod. The mod completely changes what the game looks like, for 2004 Half Life 2 looks awesome but with Fake Factories Cinematic mod the game has a whole new breath flowing through it. The mod allows you to use an amazing custom soundtrack as well as change out  all the models for every characters .

Here are some links to the games site and the mod
http://orange.half-life2.com/ (its 5 bucks, just buy it!)
http://cinematicmod.com/ (its free, just get it)



Thursday, August 22, 2013

Drawing Post: Sci-fi Shenanigans



Well, here  I was just doodling about, and after a little while my random scribbles coalesced into the gorgeous figure you see here. I am rather fond of it, and my include this particular race in some of my future RPG scenarios. Anyway, that's all for now.



-Time to "abandon ship",   
  The General

Friday, August 16, 2013

Painting Post: Blood Angels

Good morning everyone, it's the General here. And as my first post I have decided to show some of the pictures of some Warhammer 40k models I have been painting. 

In only a few months I have gathered almost 2,000 points of Blood Angels. However, I have just started to paint them up. These are the 3 of the first tactical squad I have almost finished. 

Alongside my Blood Angels (the models shown here), I am also working on painting my friends fairly massive Chaos Space Marine army. As soon as I finish painting some of those models  I will post some pictures of them. 


Speaking of things I hope to post soon, this weekend I will be taking part in both a Black Crusade Roleplaying scenario and a Warhammer Apocalypse game. If things go well, I should be posting pictures and summaries of both! 

-Time to "abandon ship",
     The General

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Second is the best... right?

Co-author Jenkins signing on

*sips a steaming cup of coffee*

Anyways you'll see me around once in awhile, I plan to primarily post about roleplaying games and all the shenanigans that my group has been involved in.

*sip*

Until next time.

Jenkins Signing out.

It's...It's ALIIIIIVE!

Hello everybody this is just a test post to make sure everything is working and in tip top shape.