The good and the bad all in one shiny day

The good and the bad all in one shiny day

A bright day it is. Sun is shining, a few white clouds about to break up the monotony and we are currently stuck at 25�C. Perfect in every sense.

Yesterday it was a little bit cooler and a little more cloudy, but of course yesterday I finally handed in my 25 saronites and a few bits and dribbles and got my Shadows Edge. A proper highlight as well. I am now wondering about how to most quickestest get my 1000 souls. This is probably the coolest way in a long time. I have sort of decided to play DPS during trash and go back to tanking for proper fights.

And use a weird abomination spec for the fights with Putricide, Sindragosa and the Blood Queen. Of course its possible to tank with a two-handed weapon and a shield - it just requires a bit of creativity. Ends up a lot like this, though:

Impractical, and frankly, quite hideous (to quote an old friend).

So yay! Highly cheered up and bouncy all night. Looking forward to the next days.

And then, of course, came the bad. The weather forecast predicts something around 38�C for the weekend. I play near the roof in a room with one window (and a fan, a blessed, precious fan). Its not going to be pretty (and only part of that is because I might have to play topless. I am not a supermodel).

There also is this RealID thing. When it first was announced I was sort of looking forward to it. I would love to be able to chat with my friends from other servers. It worked in Star Wars Galaxies (not very well - you had to enter the names manually as in MyFriend-ServernameofLengthyWeirdSpellingInStarWarsStyle) and its nifty. And then I got to read the FAQ (linked again here, because it needs to be easier to find).

So friends of my friends can see my real name?

In addition, players with Real ID relationships will be able to view each others online status, Rich Presence information, and Broadcast messages, and will be able to see which character and game their Real ID friends are playing across supported Blizzard games.

Oh really now? So people I do not know - or worse, actively do not like (we had this argument before, some of my friends really enjoy playing with someone Id call a total tosser) - know my name, the game I currently play, which alt I am on (some of which I specifically created to avoid the tosser specific people) and what server and such?

Admittedly - in most cases that wont be a big problem. I am fairly laid back about abuse (see the Spellpower DK posts - Im currently trying to generate rude remarks) and can ignore a lot, but its a little concern.

Look, even facebook allows me to choose to share my information only with friends. Facebook. You know? The people Blizzard just signed a cooperation with? The security nightmare of security nightmares? Not Blizzard, though.

Does this concern me?

Well, it didnt so much when I started online gaming. I was a mere 20 years old, going on 21. The internet was still young and the search engine of choice was Altavista and possibly Yahoo!. Are they even still around? Seems like. I was actually proud when my email account got the first spam message.

When I finished university and applied for my first job, I didnt feel bad about listing my work on Stratics as a hobby. It outlined that I actually wrote English well enough to post on an international site. Thats how I meant to play that card and thats (luckily) how my employer read it. I did get a question on "I hope youll find enough time to work with all that internet gaming", but didnt even react to that at the time.

Currently, I see the whole situation a bit more critical. I have published a paper or two on academic subjects. Id rather like those found than a post of mine on technical problems connecting to my favourite a game. I have posted on the official boards a grand total of three times in the last five years. Still too many for my employer to find out about.

I want the choice to display private information - and yes, I consider my name private.

Blizzard seemed to agree with this up until two years ago:

Nowadays, this seems to be different - and pretty much all blogs and large sites connected with World of Warcraft have pointed that out. Once or roughly 22 thousand times (at 7 pm Central European Time today).

My cunning plan was to just change my name. They dont technically need an accurate name for their billing - I can just pay by gametime card like any good troll or chinese farmer. Sadly, its impossible to change my name without rather large legal hassle. I remembered giving up on that point before when my wife accepted my name.

Upload legal documents pertaining to my namechange? Im sorry, but this goes too far for a game.

A lot of quite real concerns have been brought up within the uproar - about stalking, about discrimination and about using the game as an escape from real life. Ill not reiterate. Check a random link (not usually known for their lenience towards whining) for examples.

At lunchtime today I was completely with Gnomageddon. Im real sad to see him cancel (him? her? Ill never find out via RealID now - and cant send him/her chocolates either by a simple google search. Such an opportunity lost!) but I was very much tempted to do the exact same thing.

I have calmed down a little, though. At the moment I choose not to enable RealID and Ill give Blizzard until the end of my current billing period. The outcry is rather massive and cannot really be overlooked. They are basically aware that this was not a good stunt to pull.

Make some changes to the system to allow me more choice over who and where I want to share information. Im quite happy playing the game, but I am not willing to have World of Warcraft trample all over my privacy. When this billing period is over, Ill have to reevaluate my commitment. In the current state of affairs we will be parting.

And yes, I am aware that no one from Blizzard will reach an outlying Blog such as this. I merely use this as a medium of information for friends and family. Dont add me to RealID yet - I have no intention whatsoever of accepting anything.

download file now

Continue reading ...

The Gumbo Ya Yas Bad Juju

The Gumbo Ya Yas Bad Juju

Finally got a chance to check out the new EP from Cape Towns The Gumbo Ya-Yas. 6 solid and sassy 60s-inspired garage tunes to curl your lip to. Stream it below and pick up a digital download via bandcamp. The full-length is coming soon on Soundflat Records. 

- Dan

download file now

Continue reading ...

The Good the Bad and the Sad Social Media Reacts to Kentucky Basketball vs North Carolina

The Good the Bad and the Sad Social Media Reacts to Kentucky Basketball vs North Carolina

Kentucky vs. North Carolina: Final Moments
Kentucky Basketball ends its season to North Carolina. Rebounding could have been the straw that broke the Cats back.

Its never enjoyable when an ex rebounds better than you, even if you broke up with them.

When freshman guard Malik Monk launched that go-ahead three-pointer against the Tarheels inDecember, that was Kentucky Basketball sending them the break-up text. Weneeded it to be over, said, Seeya, and moved on.

But when we met again,UNC forward Kennedy Meeks ripped down 17 boards, helping his team to a healthy 44 (10 more than Kentucky).

Mar 26, 2017; Memphis, TN, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels forward Kennedy Meeks (3) and guard Nate Britt (0) box out against Kentucky Wildcats forward Isaac Humphries (15) in the first half during the finals of the South Regional of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

Free throws were an issue

Know whats cool? Free stuff, including throws of various kinds. Whats more, free often implies easy, and in basketball, an uncontested shot from 15 feet is easy. In theory.

First, UNCs Justin Jackson took the games openingfree throws, and he made two of three. Then, sophomore guard Isaiah Briscoe took Kentuckys first two attempts of the game, but he missed both. It was a sign of things to come, as the Wildcats finished the contest 12-19, and the Tarheels 18-26.

While thats not a monstrous difference as far as percentages go, the biggest takeaway is that all three of Kentuckys starting guards (you know, the fast guys who are supposed to drive the lane and get to the free throw line) shot 50 percent or worse. At the end of the game,Monk was 1-2, Briscoe 1-4 and DeAaron Fox 1-2.

Humphries Midrange Game Kept The Cats in Reach

The instant Isaac Humphries had his first bucket, all of Big Blue Nation collectively thought the same thing: Kentucky hasnt lost a game when Isaac Humphries scores. Maybe we jinxed ourselves.

But the big man from Down Under had himself a great game. He was seemingly automatic from the midrange, and this neat little play shows that Humphries can step even further from the basket:

Did you see that grin at the end? Humphries was cheesin, and hopefully h**l be out there hitting threes next year.

He capped off the evening with 12 points, five rebounds, one assist and one steal.

Big Shot Dom

What a player, what a guy. Senior guard Dominique Hawkins has been such a model teammate over the past four years, and he and fellow senior Derrick Willis deserve our thanks.

He filled in admirably for Fox during the first half, nailing shots and inspiring the crowd. Despite this Elite 8 loss, Hawkins elevated his game all March long, and he proved crucial to the success of Kentucky Basketball.

Hawkins finished with 10 points on 2-3 from downtown and three rebounds. Thank you, Dom. We mean it.

John Calipari and his team did Kentucky Basketball proud

Where success goes, the hate is sure to follow. Its what weve come to expect as Kentucky Basketball fans.

Weve accomplished a lot during Caliparis eight years: six Elite 8s, four Final 4s, two national title games and one NCAA championship. If you ask me, thats pretty d**n good.

Also, who says our freshman dont care?

All of Kentuckys playersfreshman includedfought hard as a team because they wanted to win as a team.

Even though its sad to see this group of young men each go their separate ways, BBN will always look back fondly at this tournament run. It was a h**l of a ride.

Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNEIXz2-gckeOhx7ZJWDPNEolJrnFQ&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&cid=52779434400045&ei=9BbaWLj_B8nP3gHi0YcQ&url=https://wildcatbluenation.com/2017/03/27/good-bad-sad-social-media-reacts-kentucky-basketball-vs-north-carolina/

download file now

Continue reading ...

The Fun of Being Bad The Fun of Fun

The Fun of Being Bad The Fun of Fun

SOLD!

Ive been writing a lot lately about video games that are really well designed and written. Games like Spec Ops: The Line and The Last of Us. First-rate, intelligent titles that are only held back by the fact that, lets face it, they are gigantic bummers.

Let us never forget that video games are games. They are supposed to be fun. They are capable of, in rare, magical moments, providing genuine joy.

I wanted my last article in this little series to be about Saints Row IV, the most efficient joy-production machine I have experienced in many a year.

But I need to make the topic a little broader than that. I want to talk about the most delightful, unique, transgressive pleasure that our young art form can provide: The fun of being bad.

This was controversial once. Simpler time.

The Justifiable Fun of Being Bad

In 1976, a company called Exidy released a video game called Death Race. In it, you control a car and run over little people. You try to crush as many as you can inside of a time limit. When you hit them, they made an adorable little squeak. I played the heck out of it. Yes, I am comically old.

See, the genre of Having Fun Doing Horrible Things is almost as old as video games themselves. There have always been and always will be games that let you have fun being bad. Robbing shops. Running over pedestrians. Generally being a reprobate.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. Video games are imaginary. They are places where we enact our fantasies. Sometimes, our fantasies are bad. That is why they are just fantasies.

In real life, I am snappish but basically mild and entirely non-violent person. I have played four Grand Theft Auto games front to back, and I always ended each session with a crazed kill-rampage. No apology is forthcoming.

This Is a Hard Trick To Pull Off

Making a game that makes doing evil things funny and fun is really difficult. Players dont seem to realize how tricky this is. Most people are feeling, empathic creatures. If you get the tone just a little bit off, if you make the suffering just a tiny bit real, if you let the player think for one moment about what the thing they are doing on the screen actually means, the spell is broken.

This is why, no matter how big the world of Grand Theft Auto V or Saints Row IV is, no matter how much you wander, you will never see a child running free. This is why these games, for all of the horrible crimes you can commit, will never depict a rape.

Its a delicate bit of alchemy. One of my favorite Grand Theft Auto missions ever involves repeatedly shooting a guy in a full body cast with a rocket launcher. It was just the right level of ludicrous to be hilarious.

If you cant possibly see how this could be funny, please, I beg you, never watch a Road Runner cartoon. The things that poor coyote goes through will break your heart. All he ever wanted to do was eat.

And then I turned off the Playstation and didnt turn it on again for a week.

So Dont Miss the Point

I have been a huge Grand Theft Auto fan for a long time, so the way the designers have completely lost the thread of what theyre trying to do pains me greatly. The most discussed scene in the game involves the long, slow, graphic torture of a prisoner with jumper cables, pliers, a wrench, and gasoline. Heres a video of it! Enjoy! (Skip to 6:50 to really get the good stuff.)

Did you watch it? Of course you didnt. Why on earth would you?

And yet, why wouldnt you? Didnt you hear? Grand Theft Auto V has a 97 on Metacritic. That is basically perfection. It made a billion dollars in like a day. It is, critically and financially, the absolute pinnacle of the art form. Dont you like video games? Why would you not want to see the pinnacle of the art form?

But Anyway

Of course, this scene (and so much of the rest of the game) has been criticized for just general horribleness, to which people who dont get it respond, "But Grand Theft Auto is about having fun being bad."

This misses the point. If you want people to get that jolt of transgressive joy, you have to be more careful about what you make them do, not less. I dont know who, beyond adolescent boys, could ever have actual fun playing that scene. Game-design-wise, its simply an unforced error.

Video games are maturing as an art form. The stuff you cant get away with in movies and TV? Soon, they wont be permissible in video games either. Civilization inflicts its requirements.

On the other hand...

Yeah, things get a little weird.

Its All In the Little Things

"Like all good stories, the second act begins with a call to action and the building of a robot." - Narrator, Saints Row IV.

Saints Row IV is a rare pleasure. Its a game that knows exactly what it is. Its not about internal consistency or artistic statements. Its about packing as much simple, senseless joy, lowbrow and high, into a game as they it possibly can.

(Disclaimer: It is the only Saints Row game I have ever played.)

It is a game that features:

The protagonist riding a nuclear missile, Dr. Strangelove style, ripping out components to disable it while your friends eulogize you on the radio and the theme song from Armageddon plays. Its pure, ridiculous genius.

A gun that shoots black holes. I can image how balancing Saints Row IV went. The designers sat down at a table, gave it some quiet reflection, and went, "Wait a second. Never mind. Our game has a BLACK HOLE GUN."

Also, the dubstep gun.

In a scene almost impossibly sweet for a game like this, you and one of your friends drive to a mission together while singing Opposites Attract. Ive played a lot of games like this, but this is the only time I ever drove more slowly to hear all of the dialogue.

Zipping through the Matrix on Tron light cycles while the evil alien overlord Zinyak recites the Tomorrow and Tomorrow monologue from Macbeth. ("I dont listen to Scottish hip-hop.")

And if none of this makes Saints Row IV sound like a game youd want to play, thats cool. Tastes legitimately differ. But cant you see how its the sort of game a LOT of people would want to play? (Excellent pacing, satisfying super-powers, crisp writing, and an overwhelming sense of just-plain-fun help a lot.)

Its a big art form. Theres room for drama and humor, tragedy and mystery. But if you want to go silly, and if you want to make a game in which players can pretend to be horrible crazy criminals and still be able to look at themselves in the mirror, this is how it is done.

And, as a special bonus for old people like me who have developed actual human empathy, almost all of the game takes place in the Matrix, so I dont have to feel guilty about running people over in the street.

But Youre Not Really Doing It, So Why Does It Matter?

Another point I see made a lot, which I find overly simple and not really thought out.

Yes, on one level, your conscious brain knows its just an illusion. You "know" its fake. In one part of your brain. Only one.

Youre still controlling it. Youre still seeing it. It still makes you feel. I mean, fiction can have incredibly powerful effects on people, and we all know its not real. Controlling it yourself only increases this effect.

This is why so many people, myself included, could not possible bring themselves to shoot the giraffes in The Last of Us, as desperately tempting as it was. This is why fiction works at all. Yes, part of our brain knows its not real. That part is the minority.

Its Too Easy? I Dont Even Know What That Means.

The main criticism Ive seen leveled against Saints Row IV is that it gets too easy. This is half right. As you develop your incredible arsenal of magic Matrix powers, you become a god pretty quick. However, I really dont like criticizing a game for this.

Difficulty is only one of many things a designer has to set, and there is no right answer. Some games, like Super Meat Boy and Demons Souls, are selling extreme challenge. Others, like most casual games, are selling a friendlier, more casual experience. There is no right answer! I hate it when reviewers pretend there is one.

Saints Row IV is a crazy, silly game that feeds power fantasies and lets you throw enemy hordes around with awesome brain power. Making it a difficult game would just be wrong for the tone. (And, if you want it to be tough, play it on the hardest difficulty level. There. Was that so hard?)

You want to fail a lot? Fine. Go play Grand Theft Auto V and die ten times trying to land the plane. Well see who has more fun.

Oh, and one other thing. Trust me. Gamers are far more likely to forgive a game for being too easy than too hard. Most people have only a limited appetite for being told how dumb they are.

The Pleasure of Video Games is the Pleasure of Doing

And sometimes, the things you want to do are bad. Again, nobody is going to apologize for this, nor should they need to. Yes, it feels real, but no, its not real.

Its one of the hardest things to do right. Some people are better at it than others. Now, if you will excuse me, the new Saints Row IV DLC is out. Its called "Enter The Dominatrix". That is the sum total of all I know about it. Sold. Crass fun is still fun.

download file now

Continue reading ...