A mildly humorous take on Mario Vs Pac-man. Probably NSFW for Mario losing his clothes.

Ahh, Torchlight. What fun you and I have had.

One of my most played games in the last two months has been Torchlight, the game that used to be Mythos. I loved Mythos, and since I was a beta tester I got to see it grow into a decent MMORPG in the vein of Diablo I/II.  Of course, Flagship Studios went under, and so I thought that Mythos was done for.

Not so! Most of those who were working on Mythos formed Runic Games, and they released Torchlight as a single player version of Mythos. It’s one of the few games I can go back to again and again, playing for just a few minutes, or lose myself in hours of game time.

I personally love single player, offline games. Games with a decent story and game mechanics pull me in much more than multiplayer games. I think it stems from the fact that you can’t really prevent griefers or idiots from playing the same game as you in multiplayer. Much like Halo or CoD:MW, you have a minority of decent, respectable players that are there for the fun of sharing in a gaming experience, and then you have the majority, which is a dreadful stew of children, foul mouths and griefers (groups that are not mutually exclusive).

Anyway, back on topic. A week or so ago, I sit down to play Torchlight after a hard day’s work, and find that I need to update it. Okay, no big deal. Then I discover what the update contained. 67 new achievements! Steam Cloud saving! While the saving feature is very handy (thank you, “netbook mode”), the achievements kinda piss me off. Seriously, if there were going to be achievements, I’d have liked one of two things: either release with the achievements, or take into account all the work I’ve already done.

Neither, of course, occurred. I’m halfway through my second character’s play on ‘very hard’, and a lot of the achievements I’d have handily taken with no large amount of work. Especially since I’ve beaten Ordrak already, so all of the ‘story achievements’ are repeats for me. I’m definitely an ‘achievement whore’, especially on the Xbox 360, but I also try and collect Steam achievements as well. To have to play this game through again after so much unregistered work is a little irritating.

I can’t say I’m totally irritated at Runic Games, though, as having achievements now means I will have to play more Torchlight, which is not a bad thing. I just wish people would think about the product before it’s released.

The company holiday party was today.It’s the usual ruckus. It’s hilarious to see, at a large party where it’s easy to mingle, people grouping into their smaller company groups. Half the time those people can’t stand you for the rest of the year, and yet you group together with them as though the others will try and sell you something. One of those funny little things you see if you look hard enough.

The usual is that there’s a ticket handed out for a “door prize”, with about twenty or so prizes given out (so your chance, in a room of about a hundred or so, is pretty good). I actually won one of those (a nice popcorn tin with cute puppies on the side).

Then there’s a raffle, where all the money ($1 for one ticket, $5 for six) goes into a large pot, and one person will win that at the end. I always find hilarious the owner of the company standing up there, changing the deals and wondering why no one buys up front any more. It’s sort of a nice in-joke for us all.

Anyway, someone else won that (nice pot, too; about $420) which was nice. I had found out about  five minutes after that he’d also won a door prize as well. Lucky guy!

Then the real fun of the party happens, the Euchre tournament! Ahh, Euchre, you complete me. When you only get to play once a year because few of your friends know how to play the game (or don’t like competitive games), it’s a welcome treat to get to play with good players. We had an even eight teams, including “Yellow Shirt”, which is what I’ll call the guy who won the raffle. I was partnered with another veteran of the game (though by now we were all veterans) and we went to work. Got the spot right next to the fireplace, too.

I stupidly went alone at 8 to 8, which was just dumb because we only needed two points. My card lucked sucked as well, with mostly tens and aces for each hand. But we eventually won the first round. Second round found our team facing “Yellow Shirt” and “Rob”, who was my teammate last year (we won the $50 prize then, too).

Off to a horrible start, we came back a little but lost 5 to 10. “Yellow Shirt” definitely had luck on his side today. I stayed to watch the last round of players go at it, which included my team mate my first year playing (I tend to do well there) and someone who I did not know, but did not enjoy his company. Very crass, to be honest.

Anyway, “Yellow Shirt” and “Rob” were behind 6 to 8, and “Crass” decides to go alone, which was hilarious to all of us, because I’d done it earlier, and he did not get them all.  So 6 to 9. And what do you know, “Rob” deals himself a loner and gets them all. Game, set, match! Everyone laughed at “Crass” for going alone the last time. It was simply funny to watch. I of course cheered for the team that beat us, because hey, it’s a game and supposed to be fun!

Oh, and in case you’re not keeping track, “Yellow Shirt” won at all three activities. I guess it was his day. Congrats to him!

Mostly, it was a fun time. The worst part is always the group “prayer” session they insist on doing before meals (which usually consists of “pray for this person” and “thanks for the food”).  Each time I see more and more people without their heads bowed, which makes me feel less like an outcast at work.  It always amazes me that people give credit to some thing that had nothing to do with their ability to sell products, or do their jobs. I mean, come on, we get to eat this nice dinner because we worked hard for it. We are the party responsible here.

Ah well. At least the food was good. We all chipped in for a gift card for our boss, because we often don’t get to give him a gift during the holidays. That was nice. And I got to talk with a co-worker from another group that actually understands me.

Well, back to work. Party’s over.

Now that’s an entrance!

http://www.viddler.com/player/2697aa21/

This was posted by Revel on the Eternity Lost Forums. I just had to share.

The Power of a Wife’s Love

A very old man lie dying in his bed. In death’s doorway, he
suddenly smelled the aroma of his favorite chocolate chip
cookie wafting up the stairs.

He gathered his remaining strength and lifted himself from the
bed. Leaning against the wall, he slowly made his way out of
the bedroom, and with even greater effort forced himself down
the stairs, gripping the railing with both hands.

With labored breath, he leaned against the door frame, gazing
into the kitchen. Were it not for death’s agony, he would have
thought himself already in heaven.

There, spread out on newspapers on the kitchen table were
literally hundreds of his favorite chocolate chip cookies.

Was it heaven? Or was it one final act of heroic love from his
devoted wife, seeing to it that he left this world a happy man?

Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself toward the
table. The aged and withered hand, shaking, made its way to a
cookie at the edge of the table, when he was suddenly smacked
with a spatula by his wife.

“Stay out of those,” she said. “They’re for the funeral.”

*blink* *blink* Seriously? That is awesome, in the truest sense of the word.

If anyone is familiar with the Mass Effect game(s) on Xbox 360, you’ll understand the gravity (ha ha) of the new information I just watched on GameTrailers. Mass Effect 2 comes out soon enough, and below is a video of the star voice cast.

I would suggest watching it in High Def, if you can.

Just a quick rundown of the people showcased in this video:

• Martin Sheen: “The Illusive Man” (Read the books if you don’t know who this is… the character, I mean. Everyone knows who Martin Sheen is… right?)
• Seth Green: “Joker” (The galaxy’s favorite pilot is back in action, wit included)
• Tricia Helfer: EDI (Disembodied voice of the ship al-la Star Trek, plus BSG cred)
• Yvonne Strahovski: “Miranda Lawson” (Chuck fans may now be pre-ordering ME2 as we speak, drooling over the fact that she’s playing a character seemingly made just for her. Rrrrrow!)
• Carrie-Anne Moss: “Aria” (Trinity? Not really a big fan, Matrix not-withstanding, but I see potential here)
• Michael Hogan: “Capt. Bailey” (Another BSG alumni! You’d thing that silly show catapulted them into stardom or something)
• Natalia Cigliuti: “Morinth” (No idea who this is, but wow is her last name both hard to say and very tantalizing)
• Kieth David: “Anderson” (“It’s ‘Counselor’ now.” And while the name may not be familiar, he’s instantly recognizable from his other sci-fi works)
• Shoreh Aghdashloo: “Admiral Shala’Raan” (Who? No idea, but I recognize her from somewhere)
• Liz Sroka: “Tali’Zorah” (I remember calling her “Talia” for some reason. Same voice from ME1, which was always the one I actually wanted to get into a relationship with. Forcing us on Ashley or What’s her name was never appealing)
• Adam Baldwin: “Kal’Reegar” (And another Chuck alumni, except much more famous, I think, from Firefly)
• Michael Dorn: “Gatatog Uvenk” (Worf! Poor guy probably can’t ever get away from his Star Trek TNG days, but nonetheless in my book he has more than enough star power)
• Simon Templeman: “Han Garrel” (I think, quite honestly, my favorite voice actor ever, simply due the Legacy of Kain/Soul Reaver series, which I think had one of the most emotional and well thought-out stories in game history. Plus, he’s been in everything!)

Yeah. Star overload. And this is just the list from that video. I’m guessing a lot of the other voice actors in the game are also pretty famous.

Did this just go from high on my list to a must have? I think it did.

Taken from “The Stars of Mass Effect 2“.

Here’s an awesome video of Rachel Maddow tearing apart Richard Cohen on her show.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

What is wrong with these people? And why can’t more of them be dragged across the coals (metaphorically, just in case an ignorant fool walks by and misinterprets my words) in a public setting. Do they not feel shame at what they say and do?

What’s even better is that technically, Richard Cohen is only safe because he doesn’t live in Uganda, where, if the new law that he inadvertently engendered passes (that will oppress, and possibly execute, confirmed homosexuals) he would be breaking it (as a acknowledged ex-homosexual). Ahh, Karma.

Here’s a very funny flash file about a fight between an Flash Animator (represented by the mouse arrow) and the animation (represented by a stick figure). If you have already seen it, I’m told that it has been updated a bit to look cleaner and move more smoothly.

Originally created by Alan Becker: Animator_vs__Animation

The awesomeness that is Tron is, as you may already be aware, getting a huge upgrade in the form of Tron Legacy.

A new still has been release, and all I can say is: YesYesYesYesYes! (Bit is happy!)

I think that is the sexiest program I've ever seen!

Did you know: There is no defined “Present” for any observer of an event in time? That whatever you are experiencing occurs in the past (or is a projection of the future)? No joke!

Think about it for a moment. Take an external stimuli and track it to your consciousness.

Like light. Follow the path of light to your eyes, and then your brain. The conundrum that is light (is it a particle or a wave? It’s both!) take time to travel between it’s source (say, the light bulb above your head) and the object that intercepts it (like the shirt hanging off of your door knob.) Then watch as the unabsorbed frequencies of light bounce off of that object and to the photo-receptors of your eyeballs (huh, that shirt is blue).

Is it done? Nope, and it’s already taken a bit of time to do just that. So far, we haven’t even processed the light! Watch as it takes time for the rods and cones in your eye to translate the light stimulus to chemical and electrical energy, which travels down the optic nerve and into your brain. That also takes time.

And then it, the brain, needs processing time to figure out exactly what you’re looking at. At this point you’ve used up a ton of time waiting for that light to appear inverted in your eyeball. Next, the brain takes that projected image it has captured from the eye, turns it upside down and reverses it, and then your consciousness recognizes that, for that small space of time, you were looking at a blue shirt hanging off of a door knob. You can then choose to react to that stimuli (is that a dirty shirt? I may have to wash it).

Aha! you say. That must be the instance of ‘Now‘. Only one problem with that. Did you simply process one light particle/wave, or did you process a whole lot of them? And did they all arrive at the same time?

The answer is: no.

So, the shirt exists for your brain in the past. Essentially, you’re getting a giant reel of video in your brain of an occurrence that happened a very short time period in the past. You’re viewing a short term memory; much like RAM, the brain holds particular thoughts in a temporary storage before choosing to save it to the long-term storage, your long-term memory.

The same could be said for viewing the night sky, from which you’re viewing stars as they were tens to billions of years ago. You don’t see stars as they are at this moment in time, you see them as they were when the light left their surface and began to make its way to you, the observer.

The only way you can truly count something as “Present” or “Now” is if you manually take a chunk of time, say a minute into the future (which is a calculated variance on past information, or a projection of how events could happen, and as such does not exist until it has passed the point at which it can no longer change over time) and five minutes into the past, and call that “Now”.

Why a chunk? Should it not be a point in time? The reason it shouldn’t be a infintessimal point in time as opposed to a specified length of time is each observer actually has a different view on what “Now” is. (You can thank Einstein for that!)

Think about it. If everything you do actually happens in the past, and everything you react to is a calculation of the future based off the past information you’ve received, does that change the way you look at your own reality?

Am I wrong? Always a possibility.

Here’s a Wikipedia entry that talks a little about it. Of course, they also go into the philosophical views of what the “Present” is, but I’m just taking it from a scientific standpoint.