2010 Christmas List!

Starcraft 2 Zerg T-Shirt - $20.00: Medium Size
This shirt is just plain awesome. I'm a Zerg player, and a Starcraft 2 enthusiast. What better gift for a total gamer geek?



Apple Ipod Nano 16GB - $179.99: Exclusive Red(Online Only!)
Music is perhaps one of the biggest parts of my life. I listen to it all the time, wherever I am. My phone doesn't really cut it as an MP3 player, and my old IPod has seen far better days.



1TB External Portable Hard Drive - $109.99: No external power required
I have a ton of data that I keep with me on a regular basis that I can't have on just one computer. I need more space, and make it portable!



RAZER Carcharias 3.5mm Connector Circumaural Professional Gaming Headset
This is a convenient need I put on my list a while ago. Why convenient? While gaming tonight the other headphone to my current headphones went out, rendering them almost completely useless. Need this!


..... I don't know if there's anything else I want or need at this point honestly (other than a car starter for my car. But that's what my saved up birthday money is for!

By the way, the Images are links to the places I found them at!

RockMelt - A Social Networking browser

My sister brought up RockMelt not too long ago as a browser she was curious about, so I decided to check it out. We'll start with what I called it, a Social Networking Browser.

As it stands, the invite only version requires you to log in to Facebook to load up the browser. The upside is the total integration into Facebook that it gives you. The left side of the screen holds your friends list, starting at the top left in a single line to the bottom. From here you can click on your friends, see their online status, send them a chat message, OR view their profile. All this is done through popup windows. In the very top left is your picture; it allows you to update your status, again within a popup window. Keep in mind the whole "In a popup thing", it's a very common theme, and it's really well demonstrated.

The right sidebar is similar to the friend bar, only instead of friends, you can add you can add your favorite blogs, and RSS based websites. If you're curious as to what kind of websites use an RSS to update their site, think of any news website, Twitter, any blogs, Engadget, battle.net, etc. Also on this right side, is your integration to Facebook. You can few the feed and your personal wall on the right side. Keep in mind all of this is done without going to Facebook.com. The popup concept is also used for the search bar, and brings up an overlay that you don't have to lose your search while viewing websites you searched for.

Honestly, it's hard to talk about how cool some of these features are without experiencing it yourself. You should head over to their website and sign up to get an invite, or shoot me a message and I can send you an invite over Facebook!

P.S. It feels and works a lot like Chrome, and not all HTML code works properly, so some sites may look a little weird (like my blog pictures), which it totally screws up, but otherwise I'd give it a try!

1,000th Viewer post!

While I'm no where near a large blog, 1,000 views is a good start (I think!) Oh... what to talk about?

So today, we had our first dusting of snow. I am not pleased. I love winter and the cold, but the snow has always irritated me. If it was at least polite and only fell on the grass and trees, I'd be more hesitant to verbally smash the snow into the ground. Christmas is getting close!!! Even though I'm poorer than I have ever been during this season, There's something about Christmas (including the month of no classes!) that makes everything feel good.



As Christmas draws closer, I keep thinking about what, if anything, I'd like FOR Christmas. Maybe in the next couple days I'll put up my wish list. So what are your favorite things about Christmas?

Good Game Mastercard, Good game.

"Hackers rushed to the defense of WikiLeaks on Wednesday, launching attacks on MasterCard, Visa, Swedish prosecutors, a Swiss bank and others who have acted against the site and its jailed founder Julian Assange.

Internet "hacktivists" operating under the label "Operation Payback" claimed responsibility in a Twitter message for causing severe technological problems at the website for MasterCard, which pulled the plug on its relationship with WikiLeaks a day ago.

MasterCard acknowledged "a service disruption" involving its Secure Code system for verifying online payments, but spokesman James Issokson said consumers could still use their credit cards for secure transactions. Later Wednesday, Visa's website was inaccessible.

The online attacks are part of a wave of support for WikiLeaks that is sweeping the Internet. Twitter was choked with messages of solidarity for the group, while the site's Facebook page hit 1 million fans.

Late Wednesday, Operation Payback itself appeared to run into problems, as many of its sites went down. It was unclear who was behind the counterattack."

It's interesting when you think about it. A group of hackers went out and stood up for the freedom of speech. Also, it's what happens when a clearly government pressured company pulls ties from a public site that people actually like. How can I say it was government pressured? Because it's fairly obvious. A company like Mastercard or Paypal don't just close an account because they don't like you, or for no reason at all. There's obviously a nested reason why they'd do something like that.

You also have to think about it like this. All the information that was procured by WikiLeaks was completely published to their site in its entirety. At this point, anyone who wanted that information or was curious about it has probably saved or looked at it. At this point, trying forcefully to starve the site of money just makes you look bad. Perhaps there's a message to be sent to people like WikiLeaks, but if you want to make a clear message, attacking from the shadows isn't the way to do it.

Either way.. Interesting Stuff indeed!

Blog Lovin' - Track your favorite blogs!

A [friend] of mine showed me a great website that allows you track many of your favorite blogs (you know, like mine!). [Blog Lovin'] is a very simple site that allows you to search any number of blogs, and assuming you have an account with them, you can add these blogs to your feed. Blog Lovin' will notify you when these blogs are updated via several contact methods that you can choose.

I don't use this site a whole lot, as I have a lot of face time with my computer to begin with, and following my favorite websites isn't all that difficult. Still, I can see the usefulness of this site. In addition to the benefits for the blog readers, the blog writers also may gain more attention by you using this site. A favorites page is there to showcase what people on blog lovin' are looking at the most. Even if you never use this site, make sure to follow your favorite blogs, and maybe they'll get more attention!

Anime - A list of shows you should watch

Anime has always been one of those things that has grabbed my attention for years. Unique art styles converge on a single medium, and are able to tell stories and show us a world we can't experience first hand. I've compiled a list of anime I think any anime enthusiast or someone curious about it should watch. I'm not adding Bleach or Naruto, beacuse they go on forever. If you can't say it in over 400 episodes, you probably never will.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann [TTGL]
Gurren Lagann takes place on earth in the future, where human beings have been forced under the surface to live in isolated civilizations, known as villages. These villages have no contact with the surface world or other villages. Simon and Kamina embark on a journey to secure the surface world, but unforeseen consequences may come of living on the surface.

Ergo Proxy
Romdo is the main city built to protect its citizens after a global ecological disaster. In this utopia, humans and AutoReivs, which are basically robots inhabit Romdo peacefully. A series of murders committed by robots and AutoReivs infected with the Cogito virus (which causes them to become self-aware) begins to threaten the delicate balance of Romdo. Behind the scenes, the government has been conducting secret experiments on a mysterious humanoid life form called a "Proxy", whice are believed to hold the key to the survival of mankind.

Darker Than Black
Ten years ago, a massive territory called Hell's Gate appeared in Tokyo, altering the sky and destroying a large part of the city. The real stars disappeared and were replaced by false stars. People possessing various special abilities emerged, each capable of different supernatural feats who were named Contractors. Each fake star has a corresponding Contractor, which reacts to their activities. Kept secret from the masses, these individuals are known to murder in cold blood, smothering unnecessary emotions with logic and rationale.


Death Note
The story follows a young student, Light Yagami, who is a genius at his school. His life undergoes a drastic change when he discovers a mysterious notebook, known as the "Death Note", lying on the ground. The Death Note's instructions claim that if a human's name is written within it, that person shall die, as well as various other rules. After meeting with the previous owner of the Death Note, a shinigami (or death god) named Ryuk, Light plans to become a god and establish a new world order by passing his keen judgment on those he deems evil and anyone who gets in his way.




I can't remember all the anime I've watched, so this list is barely what I'd call complete. Go on and add an anime you find worth watching in the comments below. I've been looking for some new ones to watch anyways!

Who cares? Play it the way you want to.

Any game has a play style or item or weapon that people will always turn to you when you employ and and start to rage. My response to them? Get over it.

FPS games: The grenade launcher, aka "The Noob Tube"
To us who love this gun and use it to make these people cry, we call it instead 'the Pro Pipe". Those who hate it are none to pleased with us. And why should they? It's an instant kill and can hit multiple people at the same time. In retrospect however, the game developer put this weapon in the game for a reason. That's like going to war and saying "No it's okay, I'll leave my tanks at home, they're OP anyways". NO. That doesn't happen. Use the weapons and strategies you want to and have a damn good time doing it.

Starcraft 2: Cheese builds.
More accurately, they should be called "All in" builds, because if they don't work, you're basically screwed. For SC2 gamers, they're basically any of the following: Mass Marine, 6 Pool(7 Pool), Cannon Proxy, Gateway proxy, and up until the last big patch: Rax proxy. People gave a lot of flak to people who wanted to do these builds, and to my pleasure, people still did them. No whiny skill-less player above anyone should be telling you how to play the game.

I guess my point in mentioning this is my irritation when I see a thread on Battle.net inundated with people flaming someone over the way he likes to play the game. It's not unstoppable, and it doesn't break the game. If you can't defeat an opponent playing a way you don't like, learn how to beat it, and start pounding them into the ground. Don't go onto a forum and start trying to get a company to remove or fix said "problem". The only problem is your lack of finding a way to beat it.

Exciting PSP indie game release news!

A game I have been personally waiting for for a long time has recently surfaced among my daily web surfing. The previous game stole many many hours of my time when not in the house (which now a-days has severely diminished), and was just a great simple concept. Indie game enthusiasts, In bring you something that you should definitely buy when it's released:



Patapon 2 has taken well over 100 hours of my gaming time away from other games, and probably several responsibilities. I'm assuming most people who actually read this blog have no idea what Patapon is, so let's start from square one.

"Patapon is a video game that the player controls in a manner similar to rhythm games. The player is put in in direct control of a tribe of Patapon warriors; to command the warriors, the player inputs specific sequences using the face buttons on the PSP, each representing a "talking drum", in time to a drum rhythm. These sequences order the tribe to move forward on the linear battlefield, attack, defend, and other actions. If the player inputs an unknown sequence or enters them off the main rhythm, the tribe will become confused and stop whatever they are doing. However, repeatedly entering a proper sequence in sync with the rhythm will lead the tribe into a "fever" increasing their attack and defensive bonuses."



You emerge as a small eyeball looking creature is dancing happily before you, bowing down to you as the great Kami, the savior of all Patapons. It is believed that you, the Great Kami, will bring the Patapons glory, and allow them to gaze upon 'it'... whatever that may be. You must lead your army of patapon (aka Angry Eyeballs) across treacherous and enemy infested lands, through the plains... the forests and the desert all to gaze upon it. Along your journey you are met by several (4 to be exacty) colored drums that signify each of the 4 buttons that you will be mashing for hours on this game. When i say mashing, i mean pressing them patiently to the rhythm, for what onlookers will say ages, and you'll feel like it's been seconds.

I distinctly remember getting this game downloaded to my PSP midday, and looking up in bewilderment as to how it was tomorrow. Oops! In either case, I'll be getting this game (They're usually $10-20.00), and you should do.

Oh, and by the way, if you want to check it out, the demo has been out for a few months for download. Just thought you should know.

Week 5 - 52 Week Challenge, Sepia: It's mostly brown, with a hint of yellow

I've never really heard or used most of the colors this challenge presents me with, as in photoshop they don't have names, just Hex codes. Regardless, This color probably wouldn't have been my first choice among all the colors in its family.

When I saw the color Sepia, it reminded me of old school, wood, and back to thanksgiving when my family was playing backgammon for a couple hours. The image on the Polaroid is a picture I took at that family gathering. Overall, I feel it captured everything I thought in one design.



Click to enlarge.


Next on the list is Yellow. An obnoxiously bright yellow at that! Although I'm not entirely sure why it's next, seeing as Goldenrod was just a few weeks ago. Anyways, I'll be starting work on that soon!

Voice chat rooms promote team play.

Anyone who plays any online games big time knows the value of programs like [Teamspeak], [Ventrilo], and even [Skype]. It allows teams of players to communicate more effectively than if they had to type to eachother. Everytime you find yourself typing, you're not controlling in the game, and that could be the difference between a win or a loss.


If you've played World of Warcraft, you've probably used ventrilo. For whatever reason, WoW nerds seem to prefer it over Teamspeak. My Starcraft 2 community uses teamspeak 3, which allows for a couple really cool features, and overall looks and works very nice. These voice chat rooms allow other things among quick responses and increased teamwork.


I've seen Teamspeak used as a way of identifying administrators on the server, or for just generally communicating with friends. It's vastly superior to chat rooms and emailing to be sure, and you can have a lot of fun, and share a quite a bit with others using them. I'll be honest. I don't know how much fun online gaming would be without the use of teamspeak (or ventrilo).

Ezio - The hooded badass

Assassin's Creed II is a historical fantasy third person action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal for Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. You play Ezio, a man whose lost it all and has been thrown into a role that will take him across Italy to many of the largest cities, doing the work of the citizens. Oppressive leadership and a corrupt government have a stranglehold on the people, and only need a push in the right direction to free themselves from the shackles of their superiors. Most of the game takes place inside the Animus, which is a modern day device (fantasy of course), that delves into the mind of Desmond, who is your actual character. The medieval setting is the recreation the Animus has constructed based on DNA based memories left behind by far distant relatives. Ezio, and before him, Altair are two of such ancestors.

The Templar, who maintain power throughout the realm, seek to maintain power by seeking powerful artifacts, that will grant them strength to dominate over the assassins, and to keep their grip on society. Desmond's ancestors are people who were last known to have the location of these artifacts, and people in the modern world who are also part of the Templar are looking for his memories.



Enough of the story. The combat is pretty fun when you're not trying to be Hercules and take on hordes of opponents, which also defeats the purpose of being a more stealth based assassin. The ability to have two of the hidden blades, and thus assassinate two targets at once is pretty awesome also. Roof jumping and the rest of the controls are very fluid and responsive, although I found Ezio refusing to run off some roofs, even though he could make the jump, but that may have been from not having enough speed or a bad angle.

Speaking of bad angles, my god did this game have some horrifying camera angles. There were parts of some of the side quests that I found myself hating the angle that was making certain jumps really difficult. Those kinds of camera shots aren't always avoidable, so I can't complain too much since they were fairly minimal.

The Villa 'mini game' was fun for a very very short while. Since you can amass so much wealth by doing quests, the income gained from your villa is inconsequential. I was able to buy every armor and every weapon without the use of the villas income. The one thing I did use it for, however, was attaining discounts, and visiting the bordello... I mean spending time with quality, outstanding women. The story is solid if you're okay with clearly far out fantasy stories, and the ending had me saying "NO! NOT YET! It can't possibly be over!" AC2 had the cliffhanger from hell, and will most certainly have me playing Brotherhood. Yeah, I'm a little behind the times in terms of game releases I guess.

Minecraft - The possibilities are.. Boring after a couple obsessive days

Minecraft, a game created by [Mojang Specifications], is a game where the whole world, trees, water, dirt, stone etc, are created all of 1x1x1 cubic units. In what they're calling 'alpha', you run around on day one cutting down trees with your bare hands in an attempt to get enough materials to start crafting crude tools to mine various ores and stone to build yourself a shelter with light to live through the night. At night, the creepy crawlies come out to get you, which range from cactus looking creatures that explode like TNT when they get near you, to spiders and skeletons. The "alpha" servers barely work, however, and you cannot die or hurt enemies.





Alpha multiplayer servers have basically been reduced to turning off the baddies and making labyrinths and creating monoliths all over the map with friends. Don't get me wrong, this is a TON of fun, since there is some basic logic to how to power things using electrical... stuff? I started on a friends account, dabbling with the server and learning how to craft and build. Within minutes, I was creating deep mines and castles all over the place. He and I build a settlement, which I promptly learned what fire can do and burned it down along with every tree on the island. Lots of laughter ensued. But after that, the novelty quickly wore off.

Alpha does mean that it's in the early stages of development, and there is plenty of time for fixing the obvious bugs, and adding tons more content before an actual release is spoken of. This game has a lot of potential for being such a simple concept. I only wish someone would come up with more survival based games, where looking for food, shelter, and resources was the name of the game, similar to old Warcraft 3 custom games.

But that's okay, I've been playing Assassin's Creed 2, so I'll post about how I feel about that next time!

Christmas is near

It's funny how just yesterday it was summer, and now we're closing in on Christmas; one of those holidays that we're not allowed to say Merry Christmas, we say happy holidays. If you haven't caught on, it's one of the huge things that bugs me. We are expected to be 'respectful' of those who don't celebrate Christmas (you know, that NATIONAL holiday), but we have to be respectful of other peoples' beliefs by letting them do and say whatever they want to honor it.

But I digress. Normally I love Christmas and all the lights, music, and fun it brings; except recently it feels more stressful and depressing than normal. We're not going to be able to have our 22 year traditional Christmas morning this year because the house is still in a pretty unlivable condition unless you're on the 2nd floor or in the basement. On top of that, the renovations for the house are taking way longer than expected, and starting to cost way more.


The things I do love, although some people complain about them, are the cold weather, and the Christmas music on the radio. There's no much more to lift a bad mood than Christmas music! Every Christmas break signals the end of a semester of college, and I can honestly say I'm glad for this one to be over; not because it was difficult or irritating (which it was), but because that means the new semester will be that much closer to starting, and I've got some pretty awesome courses planned for it!

In a couple days I'll be ready to post on the week 5 color, which last time I said was "sepia". Honestly, who comes up with these names? Would you look at the time! Just 15 minutes ago it was 9PM.. it's now 5AM. Time for bed!

Starcraft 2 Gaming community is live!

At long last, my idea for a Starcraft 2 gaming community has come to fruition. I have created a community website for like-minded gamers to find other people to play multiplayer games, discuss strategies, and share Starcraft content with each other! This is not a clan, and there are no -leaders- or hierarchy. No one gets precedence over the other person, and your rank and skill level are irrelevant as long as you're willing to learn, and have a ton of fun!


It's unfortunate when i check the Battle.net forum, that people refuse to listen to people who aren't "Plat+ rank", as they feel they don't have anything valid to ever say since they're not 'pro'. This is yet another reason why I want this community to grow. So if you're up for a lot of fun, being in a community of gamers, sharing and learning strategies and build orders, come check us out! Click here to check out at Zerglot.net! The larger the community is, the more fun will be had. We have a teamspeak to communicate in and out of the game, so you can see whose online to play with!

See you on the battlefield.

If only I was this dedicated to things that mattered!

At long last. It is within my grasp. I have attained a key piece on my way to the macro king! What is it, you ask? well good reader, it is this:





I'd like to thank my lack of a real life for this monumental occasion, and all those who game with me, namely: Tylan, Slevin, Spectre, Hambone, Kenshi, DGeorge, Somesite, Virgil, Rysen, and all the others!

God I'm a total nerd. It's okay, I'll admit it. If you're not sure what I'm actually talking about, this image shows my wins as the Zerg race in Starcraft 2. After every milestone for amount of wins, you unlock a portrait that you can use for your account on battle.net, and Starcraft 2. As the image shows, I've wracked up a whopping 500 wins as Zerg, not including other wins!

If you're bored enough to check out my gamer profile, [here it is!]

Plum - The not purple, not red, and not blue color

Sorry for the delay! I've been working on a project that I'll get around to talking about soon, and that combined with school has gotten me fairly busy. (Assassin's Creed 2 may have some impact also :P.) So the week 4 color is Plum; a color that isn't really defined by a singular color. It's almost purple, almost red, and almost blue. Regardless of the actual color, the lady posted a color box that she declared to be plum that I used for my image.



When I thought of purple, I thought of parties, and bright lights. The glasses reflect a party hall, and the blurred image is taken from a live DJ at a club. The glasses are there, because they're sexy looking, and who doesn't want to look sexy when going to the club?

Next week is Sepia, a shade of brown. Stay tuned for that, and the posts coming inbetween the challenge posts!