Why You Should Play Dragon Age. Again.

February 4th, 2010 § 0

I am somewhat slow to complete video games, as a general rule.

For example, I finished Portal, for the first time, a few months ago. Portal was first released in 2004. It was a relief to finally understand all the cake jokes, although I did identify with this a little too much.

Many games I simply leave unfinished. I played FF X-2 to within probably 4 hours of 100% completion, got to a part I didn’t like and just stopped. The reason for this is simple – I play video games because I enjoy the story. More often than not, the actual gameplay tends to bore and annoy me after mere hours. Expressed in a simple equation:

desire to see how the story turns out < amount of suffering from actually playing the game = point I turn off the game system

This also explains why I consider watching my husband play through a game as essentially the same thing as me playing through it.

So when I tell you that I have completed Dragon Age:Origins three times, one of which I actually held the controller for the entire time, and that I and my husband have additionally started five more characters and logged well over 200 hours of gameplay, you can surmise the following:

Damn. Good. Game. » Read the rest of this entry «

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Dear Apple: Please Explain?

January 28th, 2010 § 4

Dear Apple,

First of all, thank you for the new product, and thus the new world of fun blogs for me to pursue and stupid people on the internet (ie anyone who doesn’t agree with me) for me to laugh at. Also, thank you for calling it the “iPad”, because, like the Wii before it, that name means several months of joy ahead for the world.

Now, I admit I’m new to your company as a customer. My dad once worked for IBM and, as I’m fond of saying, my family was barely allowed to eat apples when I was growing up. Indeed, I’m a strong proponent of open source software, and my main computers are generally running some form of Linux. However, I love my iPhone. Granted, I jailbreak mine, but that’s just what I do to gadgets I love. I love it so much that I bought one for my mom, and she loves it so much that every time I talk to her her first question is “Any new apps I should know about?” And she’s had it for a year. I even took the plunge and bought a Mac Book Pro for our new laptop, and I have to say I enjoy using it. It fills a need.

So when you said you were coming out with a tablet, I was excited. I figured if anyone could do a tablet correctly, it would be you. I did not expect it to be perfect, and I assumed that I would need to modify it some to fit my own geeky needs, but that’s a given with most new gadgets. I, like many people yesterday, looked into the footage, read the live blogs, and examined the specs, pics and video. I believe I have absorbed everything you’ve given us about this new device, the iPad. I just have one question for you.

What is it for? » Read the rest of this entry «

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Zombies, War and Sharp Pointy Sticks: Why Men Must Knit

January 14th, 2010 § 3

There is a technique, passed down through generations, which has provided for mankind’s survival since ancient times. Long ago, exclusive male-only guilds toiled for years as apprentices to master this art alongside the like of blacksmiths and carpenters, for this skill was used to serve all from the lowest peasant to the highest king. Amazingly, only the very basic sets of implements were required, consisting mostly of sharpened sticks in various sizes. Even today there is much demand for its products, and the most popular stories we tell often include its artisans – giants of men toiling in difficult conditions, for example, or underground efforts to free slaves.

Yet this incredible talent is under attack. Its very tools are banned from air travel, and men daring to learn it often do so in secret – knowing that they will be met with derision and scorn by the very people who benefit from the craft every day. Yet they must continue to work – for if it were to vanish, lives may very well be lost. It has won wars, but the masses ignorantly mock its name.

We call it “knitting”.

And though the above is a little over the top dramatically, it is all true.

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