Emoti-tron

Yeah, I'm not very great at this whole... sharing feelings thing. Not saying that I don't enjoy listening about people's problems I do. I'm told I'm a great listener, and I'm good at keeping important secrets and such. It's the me talking about MY problems I find difficult. I just never consider my problems worth bitching about.

Or worse, that the problems I have aren't worth bitching about, so I just come off as an annoying emo kid crying over how he can't afford the newest sadcore album that dropped out. This becomes especially annoying when I try to drop hints in a conversation that I have something on my mind, and said person doesn't really notice and keeps muttering about whatever.

I have a test, a quiz, and a paper idea due tomorrow, and I can't bring myself to do them since I've been in a funk for the past 4 days or so. I just keep getting this feeling (obviously for dumb reasons) that the type of person I am is uninteresting for females searching for potential mates, and the only way to fix this problem is to create an alternate persona in order to do so (or at the very least spark some interesting stories in my life). I just don't like being the shy, awkward guy I've been for so long, but I have not the slightest clue on how I would fix that and be more awesome. I just automatically assume I'm within the top 10 worst people in the room, while ironically always keeping my spot within the bottom 5 of that list... I guess I just want to know... that I'm good-looking and I'm only single right now because I choose to be, and not because I come off as a creepy-stalker-rapist. Although with my choices of clothing and body-language I could see how people would make that mistake....

Post-Outage: Where does Sony go from Here?

The ordeal is finally over. As of Sunday morning, Sony has enabled the full experience of online multiplayer on the PSN, with the store and other associated services set to be released soon. In addition they’ve come up with a compelling, “Welcome Back” program that has a nice set of games.

However, there are as many differing opinions on the return of the PSN as the number of days it was out, (24 to be precise). However, it’s not exactly like everyone’s going to jump ship.

Modern consoles are an investment, and there’s a whole lot more money involved besides an online service. Both the 360 and the PS3 hit 300-400 bucks on their own. Plus, add to that the game(s) in question that people missed out online. Finally when all that’s settled people would have to invest $60 for a Gold Membership for Xbox Live.

If you’re this dedicated to online gaming, even for just one game, that’s gonna run you about $420 dollars for all of these. Chances are you’re probably gonna want DLC which can range from $5 to even $10 dollars. This isn’t enough money for people who have been with Sony for years to jump ship.

However customers yet to adopt a PS3 would probably be cautious. After all the PSN being down is a recreational problem, but credit card theft is still REAL theft. Yes, it was an outside cause for this security breach, but from what I’ve heard Sony wasn’t really hard to crack, and had serious security flaws that are normally basic procedures (One being, keeping credit card info-holding servers off the net!)

In all honesty, the biggest problem Sony will face from this will be people who have both consoles in some cases switching their “default” console to 360, as well as an over-reliance on PSN cards. The latter means Sony will lose money to brick-and-mortar stores, but honestly probably not by much. If anything, they may gain money from people over spending since they only come in packs of 5, 10, 20, and 50.

And the “please-don’t-ditch-us-guys!” giveaway has some pretty nifty stuff. People with PSN accounts that existed before the outage will be able to download two of the following (In North America at least): Little Big Planet, inFamous (Yes in their entirety), Super Stardust HD, Wipeout HD, and Dead Nation (think Left4Dead lite). These are kept forever, and are in addition to free/extended PlayStation Plus, depending on whether or not you had one previously.

I think Sony reacted appropriately to the situation, but I feel that had they taken better precautions they would have never entered this mess. People can argue about how they did PR-wise and I feel they made decent decisions. Honestly, in the years to come this will all just be a story about how I got a free download of inFamous.

Going Deeper....

So I've quickly reached the second level of Pokemania: I played Pokemon Emerald througout the entirety of Japanese today. This puts me in a great mood today, as I very much love Pokeddictions. I seriously feel as if this could be a big one, since I'm going to try extremely hard to get Pokemon SoulSilver once I finish Emerald and milk it for all I can.

I'm somewhat feeling odd though, as I keep talking about "endgame content" when referring to the various legendary monsters you can obtain post-Elite 4. I'm afraid I'm starting to sound like a freakin' WOW addict. Oh well. However I am SO looking forward to free Chipotle today. Boy do I LOVE college.

I also finally finished a full listening of Franz Ferdinand's self-titled album today, and I'm rather content with it. Since I've started hanging out with Andrew a lot more recently, I've become determined to expand my musical tastes. I feel like among Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, Say Anything, and a recent interest in Dethklok, and Flobots I'm doing a pretty good job. I randomly decided to listen to My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade again for funsies today, and I'm rather enjoying it. Today feels like its turning out to be a good day... yeah.

Vampiric Dethbomb

I've been really enthralled lately with this writing idea I've been kicking around since about October of last year. It's gone through some major changes since the first time I thought it up but for some reason it keeps coming back.

The premise is basically this: A story about a fairly attractive female vampire that has a job as an assassin, and is darn good at it. She's also not above using her body to aid her in her missions, however she usually uses this more to take people by surprise. I imagine that it'd be awkward if the person you were trying to kill suddenly gave off a flair as if they were seducing you.

In addition this takes place in a world where she is not the only vampire, but on quite the contrary, there are several hundred thousand vampires in the world. Some are like her, employed in shady businesses, but others are more interested in keeping themselves to a normal life, and obtain blood from underground businesses masquerading as blood donor charities in order to keep from going insane.

This brings me to another part of my idea. Vampires who feast too often, or too rarely on blood eventually lose their minds. They get taken over by pure instinct, and will attack and kill anything alive and devour it while raw. The strength of these beasts is determined by whether they transformed due to gluttony or starvation.

In addition, vampires don't explode or burn to shreds in the sun, but rather have their immortality completely cut out. During the daytime, they are just as likely as you or I to get killed by bullets, swords, gunfire, or even falling off a bridge onto a metal spike. I'm also imagining this taking place in a steampunk western world. One filled with steam engine trains, airships, smaller helicopters and the like.

Currently, I'm imagining the main character looks similar to Tifa Lockhart, concerning her body type, and hair color/length. However, I'm imagining her in an outfit that's basically a cowboy version of Dante from Devil May Cry. (This is the best I can think outfit-wise: http://tinyurl.com/6jbgv7q)

And yet I just feel awkward actually sitting down to write this. I don't know where I want this to go, I just think it's an interesting idea. I just basically found the only version of vampires that I've ever really liked. But for some reason I just don't FEEL that I'm a writer. I don't want to become obsessed with my characters, thinking that I'm all hot shit cause I did something that people have probably done better anyway.

And on the other hand I don't want to grow so attached to these characters that I begin to idealize them and start to grow unsatisfied with real life. Especially now that I've grown to rather enjoy my life recently. The ever continuing battle between what I want to do, and what I feel society would prefer me to do...

And if anyone is wondering, yes the title is a reference to Dethklok. I just had no idea for a suitable title and really wanted to say "Dethbomb" for awesome's sake.

Pokeymanz

So I have definitely gotten myself once again addicted to Pokemon. NOT Black/White sadly, as I am poor, but actually Pokemon Emerald. I haven't yet been able to beat any of the 3rd Generation Pokemon games, so I am excited to see where this takes me. I do plan on getting Pokemon Black/White, however I would prefer to beat Emerald, and maybe SoulSilver first. I have the feeling that by the time I'm done with these two games Pokemon "gray" or whatever will be out by that time. I've also started to watch Chuck once again, and I am very pleased with the episode "Chuck vs. The Push Mix" which wonderfully finished the Volkoff arc, and somehow also managed to balance Chuck's sister's labor of her first daughter. All in all, today hasn't started off as the most productive of days, but I am very content with a little John-time. Still need to figure out a decent catchphrase to end these things... Hmm.

Boredom

After successfully convincing a dear friend of mine to start up his own blog, I find myself returning here after almost 8 months of not posting. Not sure what I want to put here, other than I'm bored and there's nothing to do... YET! However, I have very recently learned of the horrid evils of midterm exams on weekends. These should STOP EXISTING IMMEDIATELY. No one likes them. Teachers have to work on a weekend, students aren't nearly as prepared as they should be, and worst of all it ruins everyone's day.

I have also recently discovered the amazingness of my own PC as I am able to play things like Dead Space, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age: Origins all in near-full specs. In addition to these various adventures I have gained an addiction to Killzone 3's multiplayer, which is very odd as I usually try to stay afar from the first person shooter genre. Anyway, current plans are to consistently update this thing more often, and continue partying like the rock star from Mars that I am not, but Charlie Sheen wishes to be.

The Beast and the Harvest

There are very many video games, with such wonderful crazy impossible ideas. From fighting aliens with a chainsaw bayonet, to swallowing enemies to absorb their powers, video games often have ridiculous, impossible concepts that we'd love to enjoy. I'm not going to talk about one of those games. Instead, I am going to talk about a series that has been there for me since the beginning. It was one of the first games I ever got obsessed with, and it's a classic within my household: I'm of course talking about Harvest Moon.

It is December of the year 2000. I am with my family on vacation in Puerto Rico, visiting relatives. While not really caring about what my presents were, just excited to HAVE some as I didn't expect to get any while there, I'm surprised to find that my brother and I got the same gift: A Nintendo Game Boy Color. We were amazed, and happy, and even found out we got games with them too. I got stuck with "Klax" a puzzle game similar to tetris on a treadmill, only much less fun. My brother, he got: Harvest Moon: GBC. At first I thought I lucked out. I mean how can a FARMING game be fun right?!... You'd be surprised. Several days later, my brother and I would take turns watering crops, feeding chickens and cows, collecting eggs, milk, and other crops, and making sure to run to the hot springs to get more stamina so we could keep going. The goal was simple: You're grandfather's spirit appears to you, and begs you (as a boy or girl) to take care of his farm. You agree, and every year he appears to judge how good you are based on the amount of squares plowed, crops grown, livestock owned, size of your house etc. It was a perfect example of capitalism at it's best, starting you off with a bare bones farm, and slowly getting you up till you soon have a giant farm. It was bliss.

Fast forward to the year 2007, and I've lost this game, and haven't played a Harvest Moon in years. I'd be wanting to jump in, but for some reason they usually seemed pretty bland. Then I hear of one that's totally unlike any other I've heard of: Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon. What's the difference you ask? The gimmick in this game is that there are several caves nearby your farm filled with vicious monsters that need to be defeated… OR BEFRIENDED! While the latter part probably sounds extremely corny, it's actually important to the average Harvest Moon player, as this is how you obtain your livestock. Monster versions of chickens, cows, and sheep can be found and befriended in order to get livestock to produce eggs, milk, and wool. In addition, you can purchase machines to turn these into mayonnaise, cheese/yogurt, and yarn. You can also befriend a giant bee, and collect honey from it. The game also has an anime style with hand-drawn 2D character images, as well as a lovely opening that would fit perfectly as an opening for an anime show. You can also plant crops in a cave, however only one type of season can be grown (summer, fall, spring) but it's that season year-round. This means in addition to your normal crops (that change by season) you can farm the other two seasonal crops year round. Why not winter you ask? Because you can't grow crops in winter! (normally Harvest Moon games pity you and give you a small set of "winter only" crops). However there are some drawbacks. The dungeon-crawling is not as fun as you'd think, and is either really easy, or really hard, basically depending on your equipment. Mining is fun to do, as is leveling up your various skills, including normal RPG ones, but some interesting ones like "Cooking" and "Pharmacy." The marriage option returns, with a lovely set of several moe-based women to woo, although they are a bit too generic by anime standards. It also gives you a free source of income to get you started with fishing, and conquers the challenge of allowing you to walk between plants (allowing you to make long rows of plants!) All in all it's a very enjoyable game, one that got me so addicted I decided to write about it, despite the fact that it's 3 years old. However a sequel has already been made that actually allows you to play your whole life, get married, and then play your child's life. Awesome! All in all, it's an excellent time waster, and is perfect for a drive, or a boring summer day.