The New Year

A new year is upon us. A fresh start. A new beginning. The genesis of a new era, and so forth and so forth.

In honor of the occasion, I felt it good to have a look at my Resolutions for the year 2010---
-Variety is the spice of life. I vow to search out a new manga or anime series each month.
-I will start reading Bleach.
-I will aim to lose at least 30 pounds off the middle.
-I vow to take a less pessimistic view of reality and human society.
-I vow to read more books (aside from manga).
-I vow to start writing more.
-I vow to start living a bit more relaxed and down to earth.
-I vow to trim my ego by a good many degrees.
-I vow to turn Fractured Transmissions into an Internet sensation!
...Wait...think I broke one there already...

This is hard...

Living Vicariously the Otaku Way

Ever wonder why we nerds are as die hard about our hobbies as we are? Why we dress up in effigy of our favorite characters at cons and have the potential for violence in debates such as the immortal "Kirk vs. Picard" or "Naruto vs. Ichigo" for my Otaku brethren?
Because those characters have the lives we want. Otaku fandom and general geekdom operates under the same principals of Reality Television- these people lead vastly more interesting lives thus we grow attatched to them and begin to live vicariously through them.

However, we want their lives...but the fantasy and the reality differ. Do you really want the dangers and drama that accompany the average Anime hero? The broken bones, trials and tribulations?No, of course not. But we grow so attatched to these characters and we become so emotionally invested in them, we get the feeling of experiencing their lives and times right with them. Through the good times and the bad. We want to believe we are a part of the struggle just by beating witness to it.
Well, as a Touhou fanbook once said, a persons "reason for being" can be anything that helps you see through the day. If you like to go about your day feeling as though your favorite characters are with you like guardian spirits, I see no error in that. It is thinking and feeling like that which helps us escape the haze of regular existance.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to call upon my inner Spock and brave a visit to the DMV.

Inglorious Basterds- Legend of the Exposition

Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds" is an interesting movie. Not a great movie by any means, but I could say I enjoyed sitting through all near three hours of it.
For one, there is a LOT of exposition in this movie, and a lot of said exposition and settup takes so long that you wonder whether or not German people ever shut the fuck up. Especially the movies main antagonist Hans Lander, who just talks and talks and talks. The amount of exposition and buildup lead to climaxes that are over in the blink of an eye. I'm wondering if that was what Tarantino was going for, "We'll lull the audience half to sleep with people talking and then have everyone shooting each other!"

I won't go into a whole story plot analysis because that should have been done when the movie came out and was fresh.
I'll just leave it said that...Good movie, not enough of the titular Basterds doing their basturdy business.

And they kill Hitler in the end. In a movie theater that's burning down.

Just when I thought it wouldn't...

It's official. C.C. is no more. Twice of having her fixed by a friend, even fit with a fan, she finally decided she just couldn't take it anymore. At least, on the brightside, it only costs a little more than a hundred dollars to get a new 360 console.

Dagnabbit Microsoft!

Dagnabbit Microsoft!

Most in the gaming community may be aware of Microsofts cracking down on nodded xbox systems because of the influx in pirated software.
Woefully, thanks to this I lost my gamertag to some form of corruption while using a friends nodded xbox while mine was being repaired.
Of course the geniuses at xbox tech support were absolutely useless. If you can't help me, fine. Let me know. Don't jerk me around and give me the same spiel about customer service guarantees and terms of usage when I just want help getting gamertag info back.
-sigh-

iPod touched

Just testing my iPod app. I'm still getting used to a touch screen.

The Piercing Gaze of the Walmart Ogre

Some people just are not meant to have their photo's taken. One example can be clearly seen at my local Walmart. At the customer service desk, there's this sort of photo diarama of Walmart employee's smiling, some sort of emphasis on customer service itself. They're smiling, that's fine. I can dig that, that's part of their job. They smile better than I do.

Except one.

Lady must be in her fifties, late forties...possibly lost her attractiveness in her thirties when she possibly got married or gave up making herself appeasing for mating purposes. Teeth crooked in all directions. Eyes piercing, almost yellow in color. Face rather like a goblin, buldging and pointed in such a fashion. Hair like spindled spider webs. Dressed in her sacred blues and yellows...

The image is enough to send a shiver down my spine. It is the look of a creature that must dwell within caverns deep and terrible.

I avert my eyes and go on my way...I remember I was just passing by to get a birthday card for my aunt.

Saving the World with the Power of Love

My first character in Dragon Age: Origins, Dalvus Aeuducan, was an interesting characer. A member of the Noble Caste, who's personal story was one of redemption in the face of being a Kinslayer. But he was also a horndog. He would fuck anything and everything. Over the course of the story, Dalvus fathered an illegitimate child after a threesome during his origin story, was a regular customer at the Pearl Bar and Brothel in Denerim, was not afraid to seduce a guard out of his armor to bust out of prison, and even shagged two of his own team mates on the side while also toying with a bisexual Elven Assasin.
With all his debauchery, it wasn't just crude life-choices and whoring...his extravagant amount of love for all things saved the world.
As he battled the Archdemon atop Fort Drakon at the apex of his saga, Dalvus Aeducan used his masterful bedroom arts to slay the vile dragon-- By humping the Ballista's to fire harpoons at the Archdemon!

Okay, technically, it was more of an annoying auto-targeting issue. After each time I clicked the Ballista to fire on the Arch Demon, Dalvus would automatically target a Darkspawn who was nearby...actually clear across the other side of the zone. Thus behavior forced me to continually mash the A button, causing Davlus to jerk in place by the Ballista, garnering a rather hilarious "Humping" animation...and the killing animation he performed the Arch Demon was not made any more heroic as I made grunting and orgasm sounds from the couch, giving the mental image of the Dwarf on the screen "Face-Humping" the dragon to death, my friends on the couch also rolling around trying not to die from laughter.

So ended the saga of Dalvus...He made sweet love to the nation of Ferelden...He loved the fuck out of it.

Operation: Christmas Shenanigans

As it has been for the last three years, me and my brother intend to uphold a tradition we are trying to start and keep going- Strange gifts. I feel it's necessary for our family. Gifts are usually very expected, or very common...The ceremonial disembowlment of paper-covered boxes rarely ever gets the room to explode in laughter.
Our traditions states- If we cannot think of something special for you, we will get you the strangest gift we can think of, usually a hideous stuffed animal, weirdly colored vase, or a cactus. Yes, we will get you a cactus for christmas if we have to.
Why? Because, while they may certainly enjoy that cookware set Aunt Patty got your mother, she'll be talking about that monkey-patterned fleece robe for months.

Those damn lists

The christmas list. Does your family still make you do them?
It's still common practice in our family. When you're a kid, it's easy to say what you want- toys! Lots and lots of toys. That's what kids like. Nowadays, me drawing ever closer to being twenty five friggin' years old, toys are things I buy with my own money on my own time, because I'm not a kid anymore. People don't need to buy me toys anymore.
Not to mention, living in a one-bedroom apartment with my brother, I've learned to quell the 'wants' in my life to a degree so my spending isn't crippled by unnecessary spending for the time when the 'needs' come around...like groceries, gas, bills, and the occasional auto-checkup.
That said, I was seriously tempted to put down some new pots and pans and some new kitchen table chairs on the list because our cook ware is vanishing for some reason, and our chairs are breaking. Because they are old. And rickety.
So, after listing a few things on this years list that I might actually want, I added a footnote saying "You know what? When you go out gift shopping, get for me something that makes you think of me." Because, really, it's the thought that really matters rather than the actual gift. Now that I'm older and wiser, I'd be just as happy recieving a gift card or maybe some cologne as long as it was given thoughtfully.

Next post: I'll talk about me and my brothers time honored gift-buying tradition.

Dragon Age: Completed

Last night I completed my first run of Dragon Age: Origins with my Dwarven Warrior Noble. I personally found it to be a very satisfying RPG experience. Granted, as I've stated before, as a Warrior who was all about charging into battle and just "winging it", I always felt the game was offering me options to be more strategic than I was going about it. I never really tinkered with my party members AI settings or tactic slots all that terribly much, nor did I switch out a lot of their abilities...which made taking them seem a moot point.

For my next playthrough, I'll probably go the Mage path.

Episode DELAYED

Normally when it comes to things like Convention Reports, we try to be very punctual with getting that material out. However...we recorded our latest episode on my...
*Checks the device*
Aiptek 480P Camcorder. And since no one could find the usb cable to actually upload it to the internets, we've actually contemplated either finding the cable, or buying, or re-record the episode using the ye olde Rock Band mic, which went MIA that day in particular.

Sonuvabitch.

~Ain't no rest for the wicked.

Origins of the Age of Dragons

Dragon Age: Origins is one of those RPG's that smacks you in the face with the big picture at the very beginning. A group of mages got greedy and tried to steal the power of God. In return they were cursed into creature called Darkspawn, and thus began an event known as the Blight. As a Gray Warden, it's your duty to fight off the Darkspawn, and unite the factions of Ferelden when the next Blight (large Darkspawn invasion) occurs.

Of course it's never that cut and clear. Soon, you'll be so up to your nose in political intrigue, backstories, side quests, personal errands and overall questing, that you might have forgotten about the Darkspawn if you didn't run into them on occasion out on the world map.

Gameplay wise, Dragon Age borrows a lot from the KOTOR games, as well as a few things from World of Warcraft- which is not altogether a bad thing- most notably the ability cooldowns and the money system (gold, silver, copper). Target the enemy and you'll automatically wail on them with your chosen weapon until you give a command for an ability to be used. This works, however I've found myself on a few occasions tapping the A button.

The big thing in Dragon Age is the titular Origins. At games start you select an origin based on your chosen race and class, which is your own personally tailored origin tale for about two hours until events force you out and into the service of the Grey Wardens. I went with the Dwarven Warrior Noble, in which I was the second son of the King of the Dwarves, and wind up being tricked into killing my elder brother by my cousin- all in a ploy to remove me from power and out of the capital. My brother did the Human Warrior Noble path (mainly because he wasn't aware he could change his origins as well as class), but had little to say on the matter.

The characters in Dragon Age are interesting. The one's you like, you like. The one's you don't, you hate. I try not to use Morrigan, the titular boobs of the group, because she complains and sasses about EVERYTHING, and as far as I've determined, you lose standing with her if you make any moral decisions outside of the Neutral spectrum.

About midway through the game you'll unlock the ability to take side jobs for a variety of groups, which will serve as a means of aiding them in your campaign against the oncoming Darkspawn.
[Minor Spoiler] Due to the regent to the kingdom being an absolute dick, these are often taken in secret from drop points, and serve as a decent break from the heavy story.

Item crafting exists, but as of this writing I've found very little use in it. I often buy the bulk of my healing goods, however it's possibly cheaper to make your own. Traps and poisons...since I am playing a Warrior and am fond of the "Rush in and stab" means of combat, I find little use for Traps. On my next playthrough I will opt for a Rogue.

Sad to say, the intricate strategy Dragon Age wants me to utilize is often lost on me. I often don't switch to other characters to utilize because I like my little Dwarf dude, and I have a responsibility to keep my main character alive. When games do force me into the role of another party member, it's often disorienting. I might go in and tweak the party AI settings thing to see if I can garner further success and upgrading their gear (I haven't had to change my armor since I finished my origin story. I somehow lucked out and wound up with top tier Superior Dwarven Guard Armor), other than that, I trust in their ability to not die. It's not that I don't care about them, they are incredibly useful. As the player in control of the Leader, I prefer to command the leader, and have faith that my followers will not make boneheaded decisions in the midst of a boss battle. It worked pretty well for me in KOTOR and Jade Empire, and so far it's served me good here.

Dragon Age: Origins is definately still worth a look, despite a few bugs and flaws.

Duty Free Mornings

It's amazing what an hour's shift in schedule can do to one's perception of the day. My work schedule has become almost identical to the hectic days of working nights delivering pizzas or tending to the box office at ye olde Harkins.
It's nearly 8:30AM at the moment...I've wearing my favorite robe and froggie PJ bottoms, enjoying my second cup of coffee. Outside, the world has begun it's motions. By 9AM I can be confident that the majority of people have started their day.

I love the feeling of early morning. 8:33AM now. If I was still in High School I'd still be getting over the morning grogginess in first period class.

I've been making it my aim to try and be up at an early hour. Mostly due to my extreme dislike of sleeping in and my recent over sleeping. People would argue that I can afford to sleep in because I don't go into work till 3pm. Well, to be honest, I'm not the kind of person who wants to laze about until the time comes to jump a shower and be ready. I like to prepare for my day. The value I assign to the end of the day is greatly proportional to the number of things I've accomplished and/or done over the course of the day. Even if it's something that's as simple as tuning into a youtube channel I like for a few minutes of funny.

Bah...my coffee's gotten cold.

The early morning comes,
An Autumn chill in the air.
I shall take it slow.

Operation: Dwarven Booty Call

Dragon Age: Origins is out today, as many in the Gamer community are aware. The trolls and the kiddies are bashing it graphic wise, but other than that no other complaints have dripped through the pipes.

And it appears as though the game will be sporting a sort of romance feature in which your character can woo an npc or party member.
That said, I now have a new ambition--I want to get a Dwarf laid.

Saboten After

Saboten Con '09 was a fun two day adventure. And perhaps the most different layout-wise. It was held at a Hilton where the middle of the hotel was dominated by a massive cooridor with a bar in the middle. This area housed the Artist Alley which normally at most Cons I've been to, have been the smaller and underappreciated venues. This time around, it was the dominant venue. Normally, it's the vendor room that is massive, this time it was tucked away in one of the smaller conference rooms and only became aware of it's existance late Friday night.

One thing I try to do at a Con if I can, is try something new, because often there are many things happening simultaneously, and I have to decide...one or the other.
This con around, I attended a Character Auction. My first thought was that it was a costume auction for some high grade cosplay gettups. Sort of.
I wound up winning a "sort of date" with Nel from Bleach, which included a free dinner. Which meant I got to hang with a professional Cosplay Actress for a few hours while she acted in character, get fed, and hang out with other "in character" cosplayers. It was fun engaging these characters in conversations, talking specifically to the character than the person, and them responding in kind.

Of course, the big thing that made it all were the people. As always. The good rock and roll people. The Hotel Staff that I personally dealt with were down with what we were doing to their place of business, and knew the drill. Jo on the other hand got the assholes.

Also met up with my old school chum Tosh Delaney, keeping the spirit of Stump Comix alive and well with his own comic book publications. A great friend and a great artist.

Didn't spend a dime in the Vendor room. I toured those shelves for a title, any title I might want, and lo, I realized all I ever could want to read I can read online.
Though it's nice to support the publisher.

So here's to all of you, who attended Saboten Con '09, and may we all meet again at the next one.

Sarah Palin-signed XBOX going for a million

We have the Cheap Ass Gamer podcast to thank for bringing this to my attention--
Apparently, someone managed to get Sarah Palin to sign an XBOX 360. That's all good and well, however his next action was to put it on Ebay for 1.1 million dollars at starting bid. After hearing this, I did a little recon myself, and yes, with 4 days still to go, there is in fact a Sarah Palin Autographed 360 going for 1.1 million dollars. And as one might expect, there have been no takers.

I'm not entirely to sure what this guy was expecting to happen in a nation that's still in the swing of a recession-- some rich celebrity, politician, or CEO to throw down the money on this because it has Sarah Palins name on it? Regular photo's of the woman go on ebay for less than $300.

My theory~ he wanted to show off his new treasure in a way that guarantee's at least a couple thousand people will see it. Ebay gets a lot of traffic and does indeed have a decent flow of people searching for political relics, icons, and photographs. The 1.1 mil price tag is an assurance that no one in their right mind will buy it, and I'm sure there are people, political buffs and the like, out there who see this and are slavering with jealousy that this schmuck got Sarah Palin to sign a damn XBOX360 console.
Now if I'm write in my theory, imagine if someone actually bought it. I imagine the guy would be a little pissed his "hey look what I have" ploy failed, but how pissed can you be if you just netted an easy 1.1 million? You could buy a replacement 360 and the entire 360 library if you wanted and still have enough to live quite comfortably for a few years.

Of course, then again this guy is probably under the impression that her name on a mundane device actually warrants that kind of price. Which is really rather delusional and sad if you think about it. Well, all the same, best of luck to him on that.

Yup

So, Jade and Jo made business cards for the podcast. Decent ones at that.

My job has been recently leaving me either too annoyed or too apathetic towards humanity to give much thought to the project. I think it's time I start looking for employment elsewhere. It's only a matter of time before I blow up on some old fucktard with a chip on his shoulder.

To add a dash of Video Game to todays post, Brutal Legends is fun- however once a stage battle starts, it can be hard to discern just what the hell is going on. However, the way it plays, I can't help but feel that this is how I would have liked Overlord 2 to have played. I honestly think Jack Black does excellant work as a Voice Actor.

Two weeks to Saboten~

Dragon Age-- Gamer Boner Rising.

Dragon Age: Origins has officially become my latest Gamer Boner since Alpha Protocol got pushed back. Bioware has even released a Character Creator program for PC to give people a little flavor and to maybe plan out their characters ahead of time.
The Character Creator itself is nice, and quite standard-- I will so rock a Dwarf. Any opportunity I have to play a Dwarf, I take it.

-I've also been browsing the Bioware dev videos on Youtube, which have been out since February, and I only just learned of this game about a month ago. Essentially, what we are looking at here is what Two Worlds SHOULD have been, a mix of The Elder Scrolls and Diablo-- This is the promise being gleamed, and from what I've been looking at, I do not expect to be disappointed.
However, if what I'm reading is correct, I'm expecting a lot of griping over the difficulty from those who are attuned to being able to wade through the armies of hell single handedly without assistance. I say bring it on. Possible debilitating injuries that affect stats over long periods of time? Concussions? Broken arms? Shit, this is the level of complexity I crave!


---Holy Crap, I just glanced over at the TV, and witnessed a Commercial for the new Poke'mon spinnoff game...Explorers of Sky? Is that the best title they could come up with?

Fable 3- My 3 Recommendations

Fable 3 is already in the oven over at Lionshead and no doubt Peter and his gang are hard at work infusing Monty Python with dark and grim Sword and Sorcery yet again. However, since we can now expect Fable 2 to not be recieving anymore downloadable content packages, I have prepared three very important points I hope the boys at Lionshead have already considered naturally...

-Make Health Matter
I wasn't personally frilled with the no-risk method Fable 2 did health, "Lose all your health, and all you lose is the ungathered experience and you might get a scar". When you remove the risk of death and game over, you're also removing a significant portion of the RPG Challenge. Not to mention it nearly removed any need to carry health potions or other restorative items.

-With the crown comes some responsibility
In the revised version of the first Fable game, you could become the Mayor of Bowerstone. In Fable 2, you can earn the title of King or Mayor by accomplishing certain requirements, mostly through the acquisition of real estate, and could even get your hands on a crown and scepter in one of the DLC's. The problem? The term "In Name Only" comes to mind. When the main storyline was done and over with, you didn't have much to do but do random jobs completely below the station of a ruler ("Oy, King, pour me another beer for table 3!"), and purchase real estate. What's the point of being a King if you can't enforce your will upon your kingdom in some fashion? I, for one, am waiting to see just what they do with Fable 3 in regards to maintaining the well being of one's kingdom.

-Have a proper ending!
The ending of the first Fable game was a fair turn of events, and a decent end to an otherwise bittersweet tale. The Lost Chapters edition's ending left me with chills at the concept of the ultimate choice of either destroying or becoming the ultimate evil entity. However, I cannot be the only who sat on their couch at the end of Fable 2 and uttered a disparaging "What, that's it?". It felt like a huge tease! The words "To Be Continued" should have scrolled across the screen before the credits rolled. What's more, we were probably all convinced this meant that they'd be releasing a DLC expansion to even out the story...what do we get? Knothole Island and another DLC where we get teased even more with a preview of Fable 3~ And settles nothing.


With these three points, Fable 2 would have been the perfect RPG in my eyes. While I have all the faith that Peter Molyneux and company will deliver a product that will both fascinate me and tickle my role-playing bone to vast extremes, I'm hoping...just a little...that things are learned, and improvements are made for the better of the series.


--Doctor Scraps out.

Oh, Jack, you so crazy.

So...apparently Jack Thompson is suing Facebook, because Users are forming groups against him. Jack Thompson is becoming more and more like that eccentric old man you always hear about but never see.
Seriously...Facebook? Jack...Come on...A networking site? Don't you have actual lawyer work to do? Can't you just take clients like normal ambulance chasers? Would that be too much of a stretch for you, Jack?

Seriously, I would love to take ten minutes with this guy...in an honest face to face conversation, just so I can try and comprehend what's going on in that Donald Trump-Hair covered head of his...

The Naughts that which scribble.

Scribblenaughts for the Nintendo DS reminds me of a very clever game akin to one you would find on Newgrounds. It even looks like it was made using a flash program. The only problem is...this is not a game I would pay full price for. I rented it from my local Blockbuster at the corner. Granted, I would never pay full price for a puzzle game to begin with.

The objective in each level is simply "Get the Star". However, there's obligatory shit in the way of getting said star, or there's an objective to fulfill to make the star appear. To solve each puzzle, you need to summon objects by writing out what you want to us. Type JETPACK like I tend to do a lot, and you get a jetpack to help you across the chasms. Type PISTOL, and you get a gun to shoot things with. You're starting to get the idea.

Just screwing around, I typed in GOD, and got a bearded man in a white robe. Fascinated, I typed SATAN, which summoned the devil. The two started fighting until one of them exploded in a cloud of smoke. I laughed.

Essentially, what we have, is a game about thinking outside the box and utilizing problem solving skills using tools we think will work in a given situation. Sure, it would make sense to cut down that tree with the star in it with an AXE and fall it at that...but I found it more interesting to summon a BEAVER and let him do the work.

It's amusing, but not without it's flaws...

For one, moving around is a pain in the padded rear. It's one of those games where you have to use the stylus to do everything. The face buttons and d-pad move the camera. And the very loose physics will bounce items around across the board if your run into them.

Again, I wouldn't recommend paying full price for this game, as I forsee this game going to the $9.99 fairly quickly anyway.

Monthly Recomendations for September

75% done with September and nothing really of note has occurred to me other than getting into the habit of turning on the morning news when I get up. Even if it's just for background noise. At the moment the wind is blowing rather aggressively out on the balcony.

The collection of "Code Geass: Nightmare of Nunally" has been completed over on Onemanga.com. Amazing that the Alternate Re-Telling of the series is completed than the actual Code Geass manga. I've only read the first chapter so I can't say I know too much about it besides it being a girl-power "The crippled girl gets to kick butt" sort of work.
Speaking of Manga, this month on Onemanga, I'm recommending "Lucu Lucu", the story of a young boy who winds up living with the Princess of Hell and her scarecrow companion in their bid of "Spreading good deeds to prevent Hell from overflowing". Heavily slap-stick oriented. Though, as an Episcopal Faithful (think of that as a subsidiary of the Catholic Church), I can't help but feel a little offput on how the Catholic icons are often represented in manga as short tempered, narrow-minded, and overall just unlikeable. Though on occasion you do see the occasional manga about a boy stuck living with a big-knockered Angel, but that kind of story is a dime-a-dozen.

On Anime Recomendations, following on the Fractured Transmissions tradition of being late to the party, Gaia Online has a unique theater section, as well as a good deal of Anime from Funimation. Recently I've been picking at the CLAMP series XxXHolic, the story of a cynical young man, Watanuki, who has the ability to see spirits who winds up working for the rather lazy yet MILFy Seer Yuuko and her two creepy loli-lesbianish assistants. The Seer also lives with a Mokuna- a character from CLAMPS previous series "Magic Knights Rayearth". They even joke about that.
"One Mokuna, two Mokuna. There's only two."

Video Game recomendations- If you have XBOXlive, I heavily suggest you invest the 80 Microsoft points into Indie Games Section's "I made a game with Zombies". It is essentially Geometry Wars, but way more fun when you're drunk.

Food recomendations: If you don't have a Geno's Pizza in your area...well, heh, sucks to be you.

The Team Fortress Hat Scandal

Newsflash! Developer Valve cracks down on cheaters! Cheaters cry HAX!


It's been a bit more than a year since I stopped playing Team Fortress 2. While an excellant multiplayer shooter to be sure, it was one of those games I do not excell at. Like Halo and Call of Duty, it's one of those games where I will have the highest death rate on the server. Some times I have my good days, most days I spend the entire match taking it in the digital ass.

However, thanks to a web comic I read called Nerf Now, which deals heavily with TF2, I manage to stay unintentionall up to date on the latest patches, features, and fixes.
From what I've learned, TF2 implemented hats into the game...Not sure if they do anything, but they're there. They appear at random making it a bitch to get them. So, some guys got together and created a program where all you do is idle around, and wait for the drops. You don't shoot anyone...you just Idle.
Valve did not take kindly to this. In a recent crackdown, all the Idlers lost everything they had unlocked while those who had not cheated for hats were granted a little halo hat.

Oh, the Nerd Rage (Post from Valve forum)...It burns like the summer sun on your skin, doesn't it? I haven't felt this much heat coming from the nerd community since 4th Edition got released.

It's a game, people. Play it and have fun with it. Don't bitch and whine as though the developers turned out to be the ones who molested you as a child.

Now, to be perfectly honest, I'm all for playing the game outside of the means it was meant to be played...but what these guys were doing is ludicrous. You play a shooter...to shoot people. Not camp out and wait for some magical hat or weapon to drop just to have it.

Then again, I have no sympathy for people who turn first person shooters into some sort of martial art lifestyle~ Primarily because they're better than me. And we all know there's no room for anything like that in the world.

Well done, Valve. Well done.

Grand Theft Auto- Retrospect

So, recently, I decided to go ahead and give the Lost and the Damned a spin. If you've forgotten what that is, that is one of the episodic downloadables for Grand Theft Auto 4. Instead of running around Liberty City as Slavic gun-for-hire Balki...er, I mean, Niko Bellic, you are cast as Johnny Klebitz, a member of The Lost, a Biker Gang occasionally encountered in the main game, and seemingly starts his story at the beginning of Niko's, as many allusions to earlier missions are brought up. We even see Niko for a split second telling some guy off in the opening.
Like San Andreas before it, the emphasis is gang cred, and also Turf Wars make a comeback. However, instead of being a hood rat who's all about the bling, you're a jewish biker with a head for gang respect, brotherhood, and everything the Hells Angels probably are.

And coming in October, unless providence decides otherwise, the next episode will be released, entitled 'The Ballad of Gay Tony', in which we play the bodyguard of...Gay Tony...An Alternate Lifestylist mobster featured in the main game for one mission, yet mentioned a handful of times. Luis Fernando Lopez...oy...
Since it's about Gay Tony apparently, I'm wondering if it'll feature some really snazzy duds to change into. Maybe the Purple Dildo will return as a wieldable weapon.

Well, let us review our GTA antagonists, and my impressions...

GTA 1: Travis, Kat, Nikki, Divine, Bubba, Troy, Kivlov and Ulrika- All silent, all seen from the above view, and all seem to wear the same yellow sweater.

GTA 2: Claude Speed (White) , as noted in the manual, also seen in a full video intro-- also once of the coolest intro's to a GTA game.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Byw1DKLy7Zw. Claude would be the one in the video who looks like Hayden Christianson as he was in Jumper.

GTA 3: Claude Speed once more, or Fido as one NPC affectionately refers to him. Silent. Efficient. Loyal, as long as the money holds out.

GTA 3- Vice City: Tommy Vercetti (Itallian American) , the first GTA Guy to have a voice. Voiced by professional Mafia Actor Ray Liotta, Tommy approaches business with a very So-What attitude and is all about power and money. A caricature of Tony Montana if he hadn't gone into crack and remained straight. My personal favorite. Takes place in the 1970's.
Trivia Note: Ken Rosenberg, Tommy's lawyer, is a Mission Giver in San Andreas, and makes reference that either Tommy has turned his back on Ken by the time the early 90's roll's around, or he is dead at San Andreas's point in the timeline, a victim of 'the business'.

GTA 3- San Andreas: Carl 'CJ' Johnson (African American) . Former runner for GTA 3's Sonny Leone. The game takes place before GTA 3, and actually sets the stage for Claude Speed's story, and Carl and Claude bump heads on more than one occasion. Carl is an opportunist as a modern Gangsta. He talks a good game until he is put into a corner. In the end, he's really all about the Benjamins and a good time and little else.

GTA Stories- Vice City and Liberty City: In both these games, you play lesser characters from the previous games, and serve as prequels. In Vice City Stories, you play the brother of Lance Vance who is gunned down in Vice Cities beginning story scene. Liberty City Stories has you playing the role of a muscle for the Leone Family, Tony Cipirani, whom Claude runs missions for in GTA 3. Nothing truly impressive about these characters...they have their places as GTA Guys and little more.

GTA 4: Niko Bellic (European) . Slavic military man turned Mercenary, taking jobs and contracts from the Russian Mafia, a gang of Irish Bank Robbers, and ultimatly the Itallian Mafia. He is the first GTA Guy to actually question why he does what he does, while all others are regarded as "don't give a shit" maniacs outside of their loyalties. What starts as a story of revenge turns into a journey to find out just what the American Dream really is. Niko hates what he does, but he can't escape it. "What is my profession, Roman?" He asks at one point. "I deal in death."

GTA 4- The Lost and the Damned: Johnny Klebitz (Jewish) , Vice President of The Lost biker gang. Now we're back to less angsty ground. Johnny is a more traditional GTA Guy. He examplifies typical biker qualities- the need for speed, big guns, fast women, and good times, but he isn't afraid of having to kick someone's teeth in if they cross that line. Another personal favorite.

GTA 4- The Ballad of Gay Tony: Luis Fernando Lopez (Latin) , a member of the Northwood Dominican Drug dealers and the personal bodyguard of Anthony "Gay Tony" Prince. Luis Fernando...why does that name just not roll off the tongue? I'm not opposed to a latino GTA Guy, as they're all over the spectrum. We even have an Asian one featured in the DS Game. I wonder if the story will continue the growing trend of increadingly complicated characters and have Luis and Gay Tony come into conflict with their feelings. Well...We've had a black GTA Guy already...why not an openly gay one...?

Rockstar...you so crazy...

Scraps's Guide to RPing Canon Characters

Since the role-playing scene in the local area has fallen deader than a Billy Mays VS. Steve Irwen joke, I've been getting my RP fix over at Gaia Online-- Normally a haven for 4channers to get their Troll on, all the while sporting a nifty Avatar Customization feature that makes the focus of the whole site-- and finding and getting into a good RP on that site can be a trick. I tend to steer clear of the section dedicated to original RPs, because it tends to have nothing original except a thousand threads for Vampire Romance, Slave and Master RPs, and High School themes games. That's the main reason I tend to troll the Series RP section, where you can sometimes find RP's based on Video Games and Anime. While trying to find a good game to join in on, I realized on glaring flaw-- Not very many people can play Canon Characters in Canon form. It's embarassing to read and see it, especially when there's a mix of really great role-players and really piss poor little kids trying to pretend they're Goku. It brings tears to my eyes.

I know we all have a mental image of the characters we idolize. And we always tend to inject them with a little more "oomph" than they really do. Let's take Mr. Lelouch "Saw V for Vendetta one too many times" Lamprouge from my all-time-won't-shut-the-fuck-up-about series, Code Geass. A lot of RP's and Fanfics I've scrolled through tend to make him out to be some sort of James Bond/Guy Fawkes lovechild Badass, who always knows just what to say and how to say it, and when to push the button. In reality...Lelouch has incredible insecurities about not being in a position of control, has an enormous Little Sister Complex, and tends to shatter to pieces at the first sign that things are going wrong. He has next to zero charismatic skill unless he's wearing a mask, he's very far away and communicating by satelite, or has the obvious advantage in the situation. You don't see these aspects played out very much in RP. But that's all part of the character. You have to take the flaws that come with the package, or you're not playing the Canon Character...you're playing your INTERPRETATION of that character.

And in my book, if you're wanting to play a character that's Canon, but you don't play it as such, I would ask you to change that characters name-- because you're not playing them right. Yes, I am an asshole like that. Trust me, if you didn't want to know my opinion, you wouldn't be reading this right now.

So, that said, I decided to write a small guide on Role-Playing Series Canon characters for you forum Role-Players out there on the internets, or you people about to roll up a character for a seriously Fluff-Heavy campaign. These are my opinions and mine alone, so don't get pissy just because I don't agree with your idea of how to portray Canon creations.
-If you haven't actually seen the film/comic/anime/video game that the character appeared in, you aren't worthy of playing them.
-Know every aspect of your character. Do your homework, hit up the Wiki.
"But, Scraps, I don't wanna do that much work! What if it's just for a Forum game that probably won't even last a week?" Then...why are you wasting your time?
-Interject minor references from the Characters past in dialog...not in large drawn out diatribes that make everyone roll their eyes, but just little nods towards their accomplishments and/or failures. Not only does it add a touch of flavor, it also can show other players that you really know your character well enough.
-Don't get it into your head that just because you're playing someone vital to a series that the RP is probably themed from that you're immune from getting knocked around some. In fact, those moments are great role-playing moments for you--which leads to...
-Act in combat as your character would. If they are known for being a coward, you better not be the one in the front of the combat form throwing the first punch, so to speak. Strategy and what seems logical to win the fight be damned. You're playing you on that table, you're playing someone else with established goals and means.--
And finally...dammit people...put a little theatrics into it. Don't just post or say what you're saying and what you do...put a little energy into it, paint a picture of this character you're portraying. Give your fellow players something to envision.So there you got it folks. Take this with you if you ever find yourself in the situation that has you playing a character not of your own creation, nor the GM's. Take these rules with you to forums, use them as rules for your own Gaia RP- and see the kind of talent that emerges. You'll be surprised who you'll bump into in such a den of scum and faggotry.

New Name, New Amibtions, New Adventures

This blog---I should use it's power to save mankind.

...Nah.

So as you may have noticed, I've tweaked the name of the blog---Now no longer Fractured Transmission- The Blog, like some cheap Summer Blockbuster, it is now Project 14, the FT Blog. And we're all a part of Project 14, whether you want it or not.

District 9 comes out today-- and I am not going to go see it. I'm sure Peter Jackson did a good job on it. I'm sure it'll be a good movie. I just don't care to see movies that depict humanity treating aliens who're trapped on our planet like prisoners. I already have a vast dislike for my species as is, so I don't need more reason. I can't enjoy films like that.
With that said, I still have reservations against the G.I. Joe movie. An action film based on a line of toys and cartoons from the 70's and 80's. Sitting through the previews to watch Year One (really funny, btw), they showed the trailer mainly featuring a couple of Joe's running around what I think is France in these power suits that make you run and jump and Superman. It all seemed extremely...childish. I shouldn't be surprised. I wasn't that big into G.I. Joe growing up. I was more into Ghostbusters, He-Man, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I also recall being a fan of the short-run New Adventures of Peter Pan, back when it was hip to run a New Adventures Of spinnof of something popular Disney had done.
Aladdin- The Series, for instance. Ran for a good couple of years. The Adventures of Tarzan. The Little Mermaid had a very short lived series back when I was a wee tyke, same with Fieval. Boy, that makes me feel old. Fieval was the story about this Russian family of mice who immigrate to America, and later move out to the wild west during the 1800's. Few recall the original, and the sequel spawned a short run cartoon on saturday mornings.

Our new rat Roz is finally getting comfortable around us enough to take food from our hands now. With me, at least. Still as jittery as all hell when it comes to loud noises and sudden movements. Doesn't just grab with her teeht like Ursula did, she takes with her hands.

Pokemon: This time with more trumpets

So yesterday I found my old copy of Pokemon Ruby and decided to take it a spin on the old save on there while paying homage to the toilet spirits...and I think I know why I stopped playing these games-- the music is godawful. Reflecting back, the Pokemon series is not widely known for it's musical score. I sat there, trying to discern what instrument I was hearing, and I think it's mostly trumpet, with some flute or other wind instrument.
I also ran into the dilemma a lot of gamers run into when they've put an RPG away for a long while-- We tend to forget where we are, what we were doing, and from what direction we came into this area from. We even forget the controls a little. It can not bode well for the world when the hero trying to save it develops Alzheimers.

Chapter 7 of Requiem After got put up yesterday over at Fanfiction.net. Felt a lot more confident with this chapter than the previous. Though I did revise the last segments of Chapter 6 to fit in with the change in plot.

Payment in liquid form

So, after a conversation with Myspace buddy/Webcomic Diva Ami-Chan, I have been able to secure payment for the portrait that she never inquired payment for-- This payment will be in liquid form, possible with an alcohol content, imbibed at the next convention in Arizona that she graces our presence with.
In fact, I would love it for me to make it a tradition at cons in which during one night at the hotel, to imbibe in sophisticated drink with well-aged and sophisticated folk as myself, waxxing poetic into the night until the alcohol blurs lines. Though I'm awfully shady about hotel rules about smuggling in booze...I don't think they mind, as long as the furniture remains in the same condition we first entered the room in, and that no one under 21 imbibes.

...Hm. I really like that word, Imbibe.

I'm in the market for a really good generic RPG system, something that can be adapted to a world of settings. I may invest in a copy of GURPS just for the occassion, although the current gaming group has fallen into hiatus. Now that I have some of my mojo back, an extreme lack of players is pretty much all that keeps me applying the craft.

Fuck you Evony

So everywhere I look these days, I see ads for this game for Evony. You can't miss them, the banners with the big-breasted medieval chick and the word "Evony" in big obnoxious gold letters. I managed to log in and play this game...once.
Evony has this wonderful flaw on it's page-- There's no Login screen. None. Go have a look, all you'll find is a page telling you that you should probably bookmark your server page. Guess whoever was in charge of webpage design for them cashed out early and they just never bothered to change it.

And it's not like the game is even that fascinating. Take the construction method of Age of Empires compiled with all the intricacies of a MySpace app like Vampire Wars or whatever, and you have a pretty good idea how Evony works. In the hour I was playing it, I never encountered any big booged women like the ad seemed to promise.
And it's everywhere! It's like seeing billboards promoting piles of shit all over your town. Someone paid the city to put billboards of a pile of shit all over the place.

So, from all of us here at the Fractured Tranmissions headquarters..
FUCK YOU, Evony! You promised boobs, and you LIED.

heh...

This blog was going to be about the subject of human unhappiness, but I find it impossible to be in a bad mood when I'm having coffee. I'm also reading a good romance manga, so my mood has gone woefully up, rendering any emo-ish tirades out of the question.

Maybe next time.

Cashing in on Lateness?

I often get to wondering whether or not me and the gang should look to capitalize on our ability to constantly be late to the party with news and events. I think there's some real novelty to it. I tend to get involved in anime series's that've long since ended, or are close to ending, we tend to dig up old news from the gaming industry and geek world in general...There's gotta be a way to make that work for us.

Chapter 6 of Requiem After is perhaps the longest, if not most frustrating bit of fanfiction I have ever written. Action scenes and battle are not my forte, but I pray for some sort of inspiration to make it come to life. I'm really enjoying the support from the comments and reviews.

Oh, hey, lookit that- Watchmen's finally out on DVD. May actually get to watch it.

Obligatory Celebrity Death post?

As the perpetual genius and warrior poet that I am, I often cancel out the rest of the world in my persuits and activities. If I have the TV on, rest assured, very rarely is it ever the news. It's normally mundane things like Food Network or Travel Channel merely for the background noise while I tinker away because I find the sounds of silence deafening. Since that is the case, I often am rather late to the party where certain current events--
--No I already know about the celebrity deaths...MSN's frontpage had that plastered all over the place the moment it all went down.
I mainly stopped paying attention to the knews BECAUSE of all the celebrity shenanigans in lew of actual news-news. Are Jon and Kate still a thing? If so, I may have to hide under the rock a bit longer.

Double Review

This last week I decided to pick up both Overlord 2 and the Ghostbusters video game from the local video rental franchise. Convenient in that the closest store is less than half a mile away and I could probably walk there if I care too.

Overlord 2 has everything that you liked about the first, and a few of the things you didn't. It's hinted that you are playing the son of the previous games Overlord, who went missing after exploring the Infernal Abyss, the setting of the Raising Hell expansion. From a child, the minions and Gnarl raise you into a much more buff Overlord than the previous games. Sadly, you still can get your butt kicked in combat quite easily, forcing you to rely on your army of little dudes and sheer dumb luck-- until the game forces you in the Imperial City to journey through a sewer teeming with enemies and no minions to support you. At this point, I declare the game officially broken. To it's credit, it improves on a good number of areas...for one, the areas are much larger. You also get to conquer two towns rather than the first games one. But to truly conquer them and benefit you have to track down all 100 citizens and pull off your Force Lightening Mind Control spell on them without killing them-- this puts them to work mining cold for you, paying you tribute, and making weapons for your minions. You could also opt to just raise the town and go the Destruction path over the Domination-- but what's the point of being an evil master if there's no one to cower in fear of you?
Despite broken game situations later on I still give Overlord 2 a 7/10. It's worth as least a rental.

Ghostbusters the video game is a welcome sensation to the senses to anyone like myself who grew up watching the adventures of Ray, Egon, Peter, and Winston in cartoon form back in the 80's-- Granted, Peter looked and talked a lot like Jerry Seinfeld than Bill Murray in those days. The game is very dear to the license, and plays out in it's story and action segments like you're experiencing the covetted "Third Movie". You play the role of a mute, generic looking rookie to the team who gets to try out all the new prototype equipment-- meaning we get to try out the toys first before the rest of the team to ensure nothing blows up when the trigger gets pulled. The main reason I understand why they didn't allow us to customize out character is because-- we get to see his face a total of maybe seven times clearly. You see your guy from the back, so it's easier just to pretend. Wraggling ghosts is the games high point. The object is to wear the ghost down with your arsenal, then fire your regular Proton Beam at them when it's low enough to activate the Capture Stream. This acts as a lasso as you wrestle with the Ghost, who's desperately trying to get away. You can make you job easier by Slamming the Ghost against walls, furniture, the ceilling...other Ghostbusters...to wear it out even more until you get it over the trap. Getting it over the trap can be a pain, because you have to be pretty precise-- it helps when the games actually very good AI lends a hand and the rest of the team helps you lower him in.
The only downfall of the game is it's slight spikes in difficulty. When you lose all your health, represented by a green meter on your back, you fall over-- if there's a Ghostbuster nearby, they run over and grab your butt to wake you up. That's what it looks like- they're grabbing your butt to drag you back into combat. Your teams Survival AI is also lacking...I have had to grab many a ghostbuster butt because a Class VII Animator chucked a bunch of cinderblocks and wiped out half the team. And, to my count, the reload screen to the previous checkpoint takes a little more than a minute.
Overall, with nostalgic throwbacks to the movies (you can even talk to Vigo the Carpathians portrait in the Ghostbuster HQ), incredibly fun Ghost Wrangling and tight controls- I loved this game, even for it's boner moments. 9/10.

Dreamscape

I normally don't recall a lot of the dreams I have at night-- But I can usually be assured I will somehow engage in a strange adventure of Scooby Doo like proportions, often alongside friends, family, and whatever cartoon characters I happen to be obsessing my little geek head over at the time in question.
Last night was no different...I recall very little but one single fact-- I counted the time that passed in the dream. During the nights adventure, I became a clock watcher, see it go from 1am to 5am over the course of it...
Then, I woke up to Jake and his friend Luis arrive to deliver my refurbished XBOX--which now sported an Intercooler, a brand new CPU, and the ability to play pirated games. Unnecessary, but I was thankful to have C.C. back (Why the name C.C.? Because it's white and flashes green).
Remember when I said I had counted the hours in my dream?
It's was 12:45...two hours after I went to bed.
I laid there a bit...wondering...
Which one of these situations was the dream?

Red Ring Day

Both XBOX 360's at the apartment are currently in Red Ring status. I expected mine, a first generation model, to have gone nova a long long time ago. My brothers was something of a mystery, as he doesn't have a "True" Red Ring, only a system failure that the people at Microsoft told him a delivery sent to their factory would fix.

Luckily, my brother knows a dude. I think everyone should know a dude. He's a dude that's good with tools, if you know what I mean, and offered to get mine back online for a mere $30 bucks, with a few modifications of his own. While Jakes console is getting the free spa treatment on Microsofts tab, mine is getting the Orange County Choppers treatment. That's the kind of dude you need to know.

I suppose I could catch up on some PS2 games while I'm waiting...

Scrapsless Weekend

Due to the cable at the apartment going out, I'm going to be without an internet connection unless the situation resolves itself before Monday, which is the fastest a repairman will be able to visit the lair. The internet went out about 11 yesterday morning, and the cable itself went out about 9:30pm. According to the person over at the cable company, their system is showing us as not disconnected, so the problem may be electrical. And it appears we're the only apartment having this issue, which we've been having on and off since we've moved into the apartment.However, I got a twitter set up so I can still bitch and moan. Assuming that works. Technology and I really haven't gotten along well since the divorce.http://twitter.com/Doctorscraps

Otaku zen

Good times are like good manga~ The really good one's last a good while, and you're always a little sad inside when they finally end.

Poke'nostalgia

I was reading some Poke'mon fancomics one morning~ The not work-safe variety, and I realized that I knew an entire four characters in it...Misty, Ash, May, and Brock. The rest were characters I was not familiar with, and I'm familiar with everyone up to Ruby/Sapphire. And I know it's not my fault, it's the cartoon~ I stopped watching shortly after Poke'mon Johto started airing. Yeah, I'll admit it, I was heavy in Poke'mon back in my day. I was really really into the games, but nowa days, I keep saying to myself "I COULD pick up the new DS game...but for what purpose?" Ah, the wonders of maturity vs. a nerds psyche.

In a way, I miss my more naive youth where video games and cartoons were what mattered rather than sweating bullets about my financial situation and wondering whether or not I'll have meaningful employment in the next year.

It is hot, I am sweaty

Posted a few personal clips on the Podcast page. I feel that it's important to toss something up on there between episodes to keep our account from getting reemed for inactivity again. If you're going to try and carve your own niche in the internets like me and the gang, you need to remain persistent in what it is that you are doing. If you're striving for Internet Fame, you need to remember that if you just post up your stuff "whenever you feel like it", and not dedicate to a schedule of some sort, you'll never attract a persistent fan-base.

The heat here in Arizona has risen to near 110 by the time noon rolls around. Clouds are sweeping in bringing the occasional shower, however that only proceeds to eliminate the "Dry Heat" that Arizona is infamous for, and replacing it with a steamy, sweaty heat that leaves you drenched in your own sweat. Humidity in this state is a bitch and a half.

Reached chapter 5 in Avalon Code last night~ Spent nearly 15 minutes trying to figure out a situation in which an item required three FRST codes and wasn't working with the three ice codes I had emplacedon an item needed to make an "Elf's Tear". That is because, Scraps you silly silly shithead, FRST doesn't stand for FROST, but FOREST~ I was encoding the wrong data the whole time. Felt like an idiot, went to bed~ Well, tried to anyway.

Manga Spec

When I find a series of Anime or Manga (or combination of both) that I like, I tend to latch onto it like a sucker-fish and enter a period of geekdom. The thing being is, I usually find myself veering away from the mainstream and to lesser known titles, though on occassion one of the Cartoon Network populars catches my interest. Code Geass for example. I hate political mech-anime, it puts me to sleep, but~ The story has it's hooks, and last saturdays episode on Adult Swim definately made me interested in this weeks episode.
~Still not a big fan of Full Metal Alchemist~ I have a problem with series's that go from being humorous to deathly serious at the drop of a pin. I prefer a consistent tone.

So, recently the series I've latched onto is K-ON, the tale of a High Schools Light Music Club (rock band club?), consisting of girls ranging from the spirited but lazy Yui, the overly serious but easily embarassed Mio (the Doujin Bait), the sweet and caring but kinda creepy Mugi-San, and the energetic but forgetful president of the club, Rit-chan~ Along with their teacher advisor Sawa-Chan, who constantly tries to get them to wear cosplay during their shows. It's funny, I likes it. I falls into the relevency of my interests~

Convention Report

Anizona 4 was definately a smaller scale event than Anizona 3 was. The vendor room was the smallest I'd ever seen at a con ever. There were no special quests save for two guys from the voice acting industry and a band called Toy Box.
It was pure chaos, however I say that in a good way. 1000 con attendees at a sold out convention raising hell in an Embassy Suites in Phoenix. I kinda felt bad for all the normal people staying at the hotel. Because Otaku don't know how to shut the fuck up, or talk at a reasonable pitch. Organization 13, or whatever it is the hell they're called in Kingdom Hearts, were in legion. Like a little gang of hoodlums.

Also I got to attend a voice-over panel, which I missed at PAF. I got to voice Taiga Aisaka from Tora Dora (...a girl, mind you...The choices were the guy, Ryuji, his retarded parrot Inko-Chan, and Taiga. I drew the short straw and got Taiga.), in which I only had two lines gratefully~ A disgusted exclamation, and a frantic "What IS that disgusting thing??". Actually came out pretty sweet when they played it back in it's completion. Also, it's of note that since that panel, I went and found Tora Dora on Onemanga.com and have been reading the fuck out of it. I likes me my romantic comedies. I recommend going and reading it.

Also got to throw down at the Gong Show talent contest with an Ichigo, Kenpachi, Hinata and Jurai in a little skit, and also killed with my 'Mario Brothers was about Drugs' routine. My hope is for next con, I can reserve some space and time to do a full Otaku Stand-Up routine. Sadly, I wasn't able to stick around long enough to go to Round 3 of the Gong Show to see if we won anything. I hope you guys made out like thieves, dudes!

My experiment in Hypnotism failed miserablly...my subject, a lovely gall dressed as Gunner Yuna, was way to hyper, and the location was not quiet enough~So we agreed we'd meet next time when I had more information and practice under my belt.

Also, I can't help but feel I kept looking at my gloves.
~Then again, they are very awesome gloves~

I tried to attend as many panels as possible, and of what ones I did go to, I had a lot of fun with them. The Adult Fanfiction Panel was a bit of a flake, but we all had a laugh at that one. The Secret Life of Cosplayers was the best hour, I felt. You can't top that one.

The raves, however...
No...just...no...I've decided I need to stop rave dancing...My build and fashion sense do not bode well for the others in attendance.

Despite everything going on, with talk of a hiatus for the Anizona series, I felt this convention was epic on a scale I now place higher than any I've attended. I met a lot of awesome people, saw a lot of awesome stuff, and did a lot of awesome things. And that's what counts. The Inu Yasha (I can't remember your name bro...) who ran the Secret Life panel said it best~ We Otaku really are just one big happy family. Bring us together, no matter what walk of life, and we'll bond like noodles and sauce.

~Keep it Random.

Pzwned Podcast

Holy crap on a triscuit, Anizona is this week. I always get nervous when conventions round the corner because there's just so much to get done beforehand. Like...securing time off from work, ensuring I have enough money to enjoy myself...you know, typical stuff. Fortunately, I don't have to worry about room and board since a friend is letting crash in his hotel room.

In some bad news, apparently the Fractured Transmissions podcast has been removed from the mypodcast.com directory. Did it get Pzwned? Suspended? Banned? Are we too hot for TV? Indeed, sir, are we too much for you to handle?
Eh, technical thing probably. We're not that controversial.

Nonsense

Let's get serious for a moment...

Okay, that's enough of that nonsense...

The Pitt is Bugged!

Ah, so apparently Fallout 3's latest DLC is just racked with bugs and issues. I'm browsing the TRIO of threads on the Bethesda Forums now, and it seems that known issues are a lot of missing textures and meshes, game freezes, among others. The forum community is guessing that the bugs are coming from either the file becoming corrupt when it was put up on XBOX Live, or issues resulting the the massive amount of info-suck generated by all the people downloading it at once. They're also suggesting waiting a bit, and then downloading to see if the issues resolve themselves. Re-Downloads may also be necessary.

It makes me glad that I didn't stay up late into the twilight to get my Fallout fix. Oh well, I'll wait till later tonight and see if things haven't been resolved.

Turkish Food Rocks

Saturday, after spending the day at the Renaissance Fair, we took dinner at a place called Efe's, which I have been informed is the only Turkish Cuisine establishment here in Arizona. I was a bit concerned about how the food and I were going to get along. Especially after Jade's husband (who IS Turkish), introduced me to a drink designed for those who've been out in the sun all day- which would be all of us. The taste was akin to someone mixing a dallop of sour cream in water and adding a pinch of salt.
When the food finally arrived, all concerns vanished. The menu only described the meat on my plate as simply "meat" roasted with garlic. A beti kabab it said. Served along with seasoned rice, a fire-roasted tomato, and delicious little pita breads for folding. My mind was thuroughly blown, and was the first to clear their plate. Which was a bit akward, with everyone conversing, and there I am just wolfing this stuff down. Jade offered me a bite of her dish, of which she was extremely proud of, which seemed like chicken and beef with a kind of nutmeg sauce and cabbage.

Around this time in the evening I learned my brother just finished with a visit to Urgent Care back home. He'd developed a heavy fever along with a real bad Canker Sore on the roof of his mouth. The fevers been kicking his ass royally, so I've been doing my best to baby him back to health. It's been frustrating for him, since he simply cannot eat without his canker sore emitting some serious throbbing pain.

I go back to classes today. Yay.

Why Scraps hates Dark Elves

Drow-- A race of cavern dwelling Elven offshoots. They live in a matriarchal society ruled over by priestesses in the service of a Drow-Spider amalgon named Lolth who will kill your ass for breaking any tenant of Drow society. Women are the strong, men are the support, and the less a Drow Woman wears, the prouder they are. They are evil for evils sake, enslaving other evil races just for kicks. Do a DeviantArt check on Drow and chances are what returns will be a strange crossover between an R.A. Salvatore novel and Victorias Secret.

I am not fond of this race of snide under-dwellers.

I feel my reasons for not liking Drow are simple...The average image of a Drow is Jessica Rabbit with dark skin and white hair who will eviscerate you with but a glance. They were created as a race by fantasy writers as a foil for masochistic players to sweat and drool over the fantasy of a dominating Elf-Chick. You can look, but no touchie. They represent the hot chicks that a Gamer could never get anywhere with away from the gaming table. The ones who would turn their noses up at you in High School at your futile attempts at courtship. The Mean Girls who's existance revolves around personal gain and the belitteling of others. If DnD was a High School drama on the Disney Channel, the head Chearleader and her little cronies would be Drow.

You can love them or hate. Me, personally, I could just plain do without them.

Memoirs of a Podcast Fanatic

When people see me, there's an 80% chance that I will have my earbuds in, listening a podcast of some sort. I normally load up my iPod with podcast subscriptions so I always have a welcome stream of something to listen to when I'm working (when applicable), driving, or running errands. Drives Jo to no end when we're driving somewhere. It's a good 45 minutes to Phoenix from the town we live in and she always gets stuck listening to RPPR or Order 66, maybe the occasional CAGcast or Sarcastic Gamer.
The chief reason for always being plugged in is in part of a resolution to stop being negative, and part of that process is interrupting any negative thoughts that may occur to me by distracting my attention away from such thinking.
It mainly began back when I was shoveling and running pizzas for Dominos. On really slow days there was really nothing to grab your attention, so I managed to get away with smuggeling in my mp3 player (A ZEN player...loved that thing), with it tucked into my shirt with only the earbud visible. Bosses didn't mind, most customers thought I was wired for bluetooth. I listened to a lot of comedy/stand-up. Dance Cook...Dimitri Marten...George Carlin...Robin Williams...Dave Chapelle. It was good stuff. Eventually though, other employees started bringing in iPods and it started causing problems, so from then on I could only use my player in the car during deliveries.

After a while though, it wasn't so much that I liked listening to the same handful of comedy bits over and over, it was just the fact that I preferred having someone elses voice ratteling around inside my head rather than put up with my own negative monologues. Around this point I started getting into Radio talk shows when they turned a popular local alternative rock station into a talk station. The morning guys were funny, but the evening and nights guys were horrendous. Tom Lycus (douchebag) and some other guy who did bad attempts at radio skit comedy. Hell I even enjoyed listening to broadcasted hockey games. Pretty much I saught out any reason not to think about my dead-end job.

So it was only natural that I drift towards podcasts when I got my hands on my first iPod Nano (which I still use). A half-hour lunch break when I was breaking my back for a big name movie theater became Podcast time, my little half hour of not having to think about work or anything. And so it goes and so it goes. Podcasts don't quite outnumber my music playlist on this little black wonder, since they tend to refresh to ditch the old ones after a while.

So if you ever bump into me, and I seem a little zoned out and appear to not be paying attention to anything you're saying, relax. Cheapy-D said something funny and Wombat's being an ass again.

Far Cry 2

Far Cry 2 is definately a game that I both like and hate- I love the settup and the looks, but I hate the execution. The game feels like I should be attempting stealth and evasion with everything I'm doing, from finding alternate "safe routes" to objectives, to trying to sneak my way to an objective in the middle of a hot zone with no real stealth mechanic like in Splinter Cell games. I get the idea that the game tries to create a very realistic game world, but at times it feels a little too real. Not to mention, you can never frickin' tell where the gunshots are coming from until you've taken a view to gauge the direction of enemy fire. And actually seeing your enemies is a trick- they blend right into the foilage.

It's almost the same reason I couldn't get into the first Far Cry- I'm surrounded by goons who are ten times more equiped than I am, and will light me up like time square. Like a golf game, I tend to react in games like this like I would in real life- Hide, and strike from cover. Doesn't always work.

Bottom line- Not a bad game, but I just can't get ahead of it.

Lament for Ghost

I was reading a really old gaming mag on the john one morning, and I started to think about what the heck happened to Starcraft: Ghost? A Tomb-Raider-esque forray into the world of Starcraft, playing as a smokin' hot Ghost unit would seem simple enough. Hell a glance at the Tomb Raider series proves that just running around environments fulfilling objectives and killing enemies has been done with quite some ease.
Ah, but with Starcraft 2 out there on the Release Date horizon, I think attention will be shifted elsewhere, and Ghost will simply be one of those "What could have beens".

And I thought adult life was simple.

=Sigh= So it was inevitable that I was going to have to go back to the MySpace page, if not solely for a social purpose. I would still like this blog to be the official blog rather than re-route the whole business over the friggin' MySpace. I think it was Jo showing me the Buddy Poke app that made me change my mind.

Finally getting our Radio Drama in the works, however, it's beginning to shape a lot differently than I had originally hoped. I'm going to choose to be optimistic, which is a lot different from how I've been feeling about my past projects as of late.

I've decided to put up my Star Wars d20 books for the time being to experiment with other systems. Give me two, three months and I'll probably be back on that Galactic Horse again, but for now, I can't even look at my accumulation of Star Wars or DnD books without getting frustrated.

Five more minutes...

....nurrr....
Such a scattered sleep. I always keep my cell phone on the window sill right next to my bed as an alarm clock. At some point last night, I woke up, and it was gone. Apparently it wound up in the living room somehow.
Top it off with a Menagerie of dreams that really don't make sense.
Woke up in that state where the blanket feels really frickin' comfortable and you don't want to move.

Had to redo the podcast last night, and a cheap microphone from a local drugstore is to blame for the most of it.

fuuuh...Schoolwork to do...

...zzzzzz...

Don't wanna be a couch potato- playing Rock Band every day!

Been a real couch potato as of lately. Not a good thing. There's a great deal that I could be doing when I get off work-- Doing some sketchwork, working on material for a tabletop game, maybe do some actual fucking schoolwork, perhaps? Those are all very novel ideas, but I usually wind up plunking myself in front of the tv or the computer and waste time.

Tabletop-Wise, I've been busy constructing my own bastard-child born section of the Drow Underdark for our Star Wars/DnD crossover, and we've entered a part in the story in which the players are trying to stop the separatist invasion of the Underdark--This pretty much all means I have to actually learn a thing or two about Drow, a race I've come to have actually very little love of, and if I play this true to the material, liberating these onyx-skinned asshats from Battle Droids isn't going to be very easy. And believe me, I'll know if I commit a shenanigan, since Jo apparently sleeps with the damn 3.5 Drow reference manual every night.

Outside of that, Laundry. A good month of having not put anything in their proper drawers has turned mine and my brother bedroom into a sort of natural mountainous region, making it the least occupied room in the apartment. Last night while he was laying face-first in a pile of clean-yet-wrinkled shirts after a long day at work, we both agreed that starting tonight we'd start actually fucking picking up after outselves.

In closing, the title of today post was a lyric from Jimmy Buffets "Volcano" that was released for Rock Band 1.

Sudden Suikoden Love

==Warning, the following blog post contains instances of Doctor Scraps unintentionally getting in touch with his inner fanboy==

Yeah, it's probably high time we got another Podcast done and away, assuming we can get together at some point. Jade keeps a very odd schedule that one would assume I would know by now, but it seems to morph, like a sort of gelatinous being, and time that I think she might be free turns out to be a misconception, and then absolutely nothing gets done.

Is PS2 considered old-school yet? Been enjoying myself some old titles. Well...maybe not so old, Persona 3 FES hasn't been out that too terribly long. Chulip, on the other hand, that's probably a good couple of years. And insidiously complicated. And Suikoden V is still sitting down there collecting dust, ever eluding my embrace. It's strange I haven't played the hell out of it yet, considering the Suikoden series has been one of my favorites since the classic Suikoden 1 and 2 way back when on PS1.

The thing about the Suikoden series, is the fact you have team mates quite like poke'mon. There's 108 of them, always. And each game at some point turns into a sort of Medieval Town simulation where you're given control of a settlement of your own devising. Suikoden 4 stepped back from this approach by making the settlement a sort of galleon capable of housing 108 individuals. The fourth installment also gets the award shortest in the series. Heck you see the villain maybe...five times. And the terribly motion-captured animations...

I can't give the third thru fifth installments too much crap, Suikoden 2 was a hard act to follow. And the gripes I had with the 4th game are what keep me from getting my groove on with the fifth game. Gamer fear. Gotta love it.

Ugh, that's enough fanboyism for one night...

up and early

Wow...I haven't woken up and gotten out of my bed with my alarm in two years almost. Feels nice having breakfast and grabbing a shower before the days rush for once. Mmmmm...Coffee...

Started writing scripts for comics the night before, but none of the ideas were coming out as they probably should. I should probably stick to improving my art before worrying about content. It's bad enough I can't do backgrounds very well.

Currently, also, I'm battleing an employment/Schooling situation. I gave those asses at work my two weeks, and have been keeping myself busy at my families farm for some part time work.

sunday sunday sunday

Ah, another day, another dollar.
Picked up Persona 3 the other day, because I've heard it to be highly recommended, despite the fact that I'm still stuck at a really pain in the butt boss battle in the series past iteration, Nocturne. Plus I figured the PS2 needed some excercise and I'm a little burned out on the standard fair.

Jo was supposed to get her laptop back from repairs yesterday, but apparently it didn't happen. Naturally, she's livid.

Oh yeah, yesterday was Valentines Day, wasn't it? I don't have anyone special so, I spent it playing video games and getting a haircut.
{:3 yeah, not a lot of romance in my life...

The Vicious Thread

I'm a member of the forum community for the Elder Scrolls and Fallout games made by Bethesda, and visit at least twice a day to see if there's anything worthwhile being discussed. More often than not~ That's a big negativo. Often you have people with zero grammar skills posting up stuff that gets locked within five minutes, someone over-analyzing the game altogethor...
Take this post for example, from a fella called "Thecontenderwon" over there on the forums...


"Because of how I play games, I always, always, without fail, manage to find, do, and get myself into situations that no one (And I mean no one) ever seems to have an issue with within normal game play and it's highly annoying. Now what happens to me is real and legit and follows game play perfectly, but somehow I always manage to have certain situations happen to me and then people always ask me how.The answer is because of how I play. Here are 2 major situations I got into with Fallout 3 that pretty much everyone else who played this game never somehow seemed to have a problem with, but yet when you read why it makes 100% perfect sense on how I did. This first situation points out that the location of Rivet City is falsely labeled. Again people won't agree, because no one sees what I see and how I look at things, but I can prove through this description not only is Rivet City's location falsely labeled, but show you how using examples of another area which uses the exact same setup differently.Let me explain:I have had this game for over 3 months and until 2 days ago I had no idea Rivet City was in the Left half of the Aircraft Carrier. The reason why is because Rivet City's location is falsely labeled, the game tells you, you are in Rivet City when in fact you are not.Here is more details, when you discover any location in this game, you get a message on screen stating you are in the area you found. For example you only see the message that you have discovered Megaton if and ONLY IF you actually walk into the town itself, if you never walk inside through the gates, you won't ever see the on screen “You have discovered Megaton Message”. On top of that when you arrive in Megaton upon fast traveling to there, where do you get placed once the game loads? You get placed inside Megaton right in front of the main gate. So you are actually in Megaton Ok so there are 4 factors involved here:1. In order to be able to fast travel to a location you 1st have to have been there, so you have to go on foot or fast travel to a closer location and then go on foot from there.2. You only see the message about the discovered location upon actually entering the area and once you do see that message, then that's where you are.3. Fast traveling to a location places you inside the location itself, not in the vicinity.4. The above 2 things show that the game is programmed to do that for every single location in the game so it wont be doing something different with the same thingNow we all 100% agree on that, because it's how the game is programmed and that's what happens.Ok so now I am going to explain how Rivet City's location is falsely Labeled:You walk towards Rivet City, while your on the ground going towards the destroyed buildings, you get the message that you have discovered Rivet City. So taking that into account you apply everything I just went over above in factors 1-4 and you have the game telling you that you are in Rivet City:No one can say because of how the above 4 factors they already agreed upon, that you are not in Rivet City, because all the factors are very clear and cannot be misunderstood about where the game is telling you, you are.1. You walked and you got it along the ground2. The discovered location message comes across the screen3. I can now fast travel to Rivet City4, Megaton's location is set up like this so you know your in megaton, and just like Megaton, you know you are in Rivet CitySo because of all 4 factors above, you put 2 and 2 together and say the destroyed buildings you see upon getting the Discovered Rivet City Location is obviously without a doubt Rivet City.I have had people try to tell me i am reading into this but I'm not this is base fact on how the game is set up to have you understand the location layouts. Simple.However, from what I understand People keep saying Rivet City is in the left half of the Aircraft carrier. But that's impossible because I have never been on the Aircraft Carrier, so the question is now, if Rivet City is on the Air Craft Carrier, and I have never been on the Aircraft Carrier, then how and why was I getting the message I have discovered Rivet City if I have never been in there?If rivet City is on the aircraft Carrier, then according to how the game is programmed, I never should have seen the On screen "You have discovered Rivet City location, on top of that I sure as hell shouldn't be able to fast travel to it, because I have not discovered it yet, and I have not discovered it yet, because I have never set foot on the aircraft carrier.So this proves without a shadow of a doubt that Rivet City's location is falsely labeled? Again I didn't read into anything, I just simply played the game and took the information the game showed me, and used it according to the information I was given. Nothing more, nothing lessRegardless if you have to push the little button on the pole there to extend the bridge (Which doesn't work in my gave for some odd reason), is not the point, the point is you should not be seeing the you have discovered Rivet City location message unless you actually enter the Aircraft Carrier. Getting that message without even stepping foot on it, is the exact same thing as getting the you have discovered Megaton Message 50 feet after leaving Vault 101.So how anyone thinks that Rivet City is on the Ship even though your being told by the game it's not, is beyond me.I also seriously cannot grasp, how I am the only person out of everyone else that plays this game, that caught this screw up, as well as how no one else thinks that after what i just explained and we all agreed upon how this is not considered a screw up when it's pro ven in plain view.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Next major Issue I have is with the location of the DLC: Operation Anchorage.OK again leave it up to me to fall into an issue that no one else seems to have but is real anyway because of how I play games.I have had the DLC since it's release, and played up until yesterday looking for teh access point to the DLC and never found it and finally last night, I had to be told where it was so that's almost 4 days of having the content and never being able to find it)= until being told last night. Now you will ask how I did not find it after that long when it's only 3 hours or so long.If you played this game the way I did and get yourself into situations no one else manages to do, then it becomes very simple to have happen:1. The radio signal is outside (Not inside) so there would be no cause to go indoors anywhere so again I was using the information the game gave to me2. I was finally told that, you have to go through a tunnel to get to it.OK now here is the problem with that and what happened to meWhen I played this game and started going into underground areas, for some reason I just happened to go into 4 tunnels that never lead anywhere except in a circle meaning the exit is the entrance, so basically you wind up exploring a half hour of a circle, only to go nowhere. So Again just like the discovered location message and how the game sets up every single area to be the exact same way, after 4 tunnels of long exploration and having no other way to go except back out where you came in, then you get a bit tired of going through tunnel, after tunnel, after tunnel for absolutely no reason, or some small amount of XP or some items to sell and that’s it.So I was not aware that there are tunnels in this game that actually lead anywhere, and because I had the same exact thing happen in 4 tunnels, that the information the game was telling me, is that there are no tunnels in this game ever lead anywhere. Because what are the chances that you just happen to manage to hit 4 tunnels that never go anywhere.So I decided that tunnels were useless, and there is no point in ever going through any more unless I just wanted some XP, items, and had about a half hour to kill.So I just somehow managed to get into a situation no one else managed to get themselves into, and it's not something I would think twice about. just like people were under the assumption everyone knows there are tunnels that lead places, I was under the assumption tunnels don't lead anywhere and they are just in the game for some extra items and xp should you want them.So when Bethesda placed the way to get to the DLC through a tunnel, it screwed me, while everyone else had little or no issues and had no problems finding it. Because why would I have any reason to go through a tunnel looking fro a way through if I was already told by the games information because of what I somehow just managed to do, and that tunnels do not go anywhere.So as people can clearly see, even though I am playing the game as normal and not reading into anything and going by the information the game tells you the way you find it, it's very simple to have the stuff that I have had happen, happen.Bethesda and game companies need someone like me on their team for testing games because I always through normal game play managed to do and find the one thing, no one else in existence manages to see and do.I have more things like this that I ran into but this is enough for now.Weird, huh!"

Still alive out there? The thread went on and it got rather volatile and was locked eventually. Probably for the best. Remember kids, there are people in this world who treat the internet as a weapon to be used against you, and if you strike back, you've lost.

Computer fall down go boom?

Jo's computer went nova sometime last week, and none of us are 100% sure what caused it. All we know, is that more than a gig of naked elves, drow, demons, and cat girls met an untimely fate. They will be mourned.
Seriously, the only thing she used that laptop for was porn, hentai, music, and yahoo messenger. To look in her MyPictures folder was to enter an oasis of boobs of all variations.

Okay, granted, on occassion she played some KOTOR2 and Planescape Torment, there is certainly photographic evidence of this. I still stand by my belief that she never used that computer for anything productive.

Heh heh, then again, I have Project 14, so I'm not exactly pure myself.

can't brain thinking stuff do.

Ever have one of those mornings where every time you try to think straight, your head hurts? I swear, unless properly motivated, my mornings consist of me shambling around like a caveman, ingesting coffee and grunting at Lolcat pictures.
...And I left the veggies dinner sitting out last night. Crap.

Productivity has been isolated to this blog and the occasional head-knockin' sessions, and me drawing a big ole' blank when I sit down to draw. In fact the most productive I was all day yesterday on my day off was carry my carcass to my 9am class and take in a showing of 'Inkheart' that afternoon. Good movie.
Ah...The W2's are in. Let the tax times roll...

Heya everyone.
The Comic Con episode is now officially recorded and up, Jo informs me the audio actually came out a heck of a lot better than I was thinking it might. So hop on over to Phase 2, the podcast page, over at http://scrapsnjoinc.mypodcast.com/ and give it a listen.

In the video game department, Operation: Anchorage has been released for Fallout 3, and as far as DLC's go, it lasts long than you would think. Already been through it and carried off what I could carry. There's a nice little surprise at the end that took me a few tries to get just right. Now I have TWO sets of T-51b Army Issued Power Armor. One is...winter colored. And it comes with a sword that electricutes people. That is pimp.

So, anyway, I've been following the work of a Something Awful LP maker by the name of Raocow. If you hop over to www.letsplayarchive.com, he did the Commander Keen LP's, and is infamous for his run through's of Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island ROM Hacks. His current work, the VIP series of ROM Hacks, is up on Youtube. For some, they may think he's a complete and utter moron and not worth the listen, but I honestly find him better than coffee in the morning, I find him that funny. http://www.youtube.com/user/raocow.

The gang wants me to run some Trail of Cthulhu tonight, so I'll try to get a recording of that. Give me a chance to try out my cases "The Doomed Case of Francis Carrol", and "The Demon Barbers Legacy".

~Stay Random.

PCC and back to business as usual

Alright, not so worn out and shot, so I may as well hit up on what went down at the Phoenix Comic Con before it becomes old and stale news.
Getting there, for starters, was a pain. Changed plans, the glorious thing that is Phoenix traffic in the middle of the day, nearly getting side-swiped by some jerk in a semi...good times.

Friday was our Day One, and I was amazed at the number of Anime Cosplayers at a Comic Book Convention. There were a good number of panels that I unfortunately didn't get to attend. Out of the entire two days in attendance, I sat in on two panels (A panel on comic design and the "Your Anime Sucks" panel), and two outdoor events (Stormtrooper Training and Dodgeball~ I...didn't last too terribly long...). Unfortunately, we didn't get to go to the Voice Dubbing contest, because certain members of the group were losing stamina fast by 5pm.

I'll be compiling the interviews this week and we should have the whole enchilada up on the podcast by Wednesday at the latest.

Again, a huge thank you to everyone we talked to, from the Rebel Legion to those dudes at 7,000 BC comics.

And now it's back to business as usual...

~Stay Random.

Phoenix Comic-Con Aftermath

You never realize just how tiring a Con can be until you walk in through the door to your apartment and flop down, and then all your bones sort of snap back into their original spots.

It was an amazing con, in my humble bloggist opinion, and I want to say thank you to everyone who took the time to talk to my labcoat-wearing weirdo self, especially Brian Pulido from Coffin Comics. I will be compiling the series of short 2-4 minute interviews over the course of a week in place of a regular podcast (Regular- right).
Anyway, fun was had by all, I'll be doing a more in-depth review once I get over my tired.

Stay Randon~

Convention is go

Hey there, guys.
Finally feeling stoked for the convention, since I am now concrete in the fact that I'll actually be able to attend. A set schedule and things moving smoothly makes Scraps a happy boy. It helps when you make your requests for time off sound important--not that what we're doing isn't important, I feel it's vital and part of a bigger picture--Once we...y'know...grasp the big picture and remember the mission.

Aside from all that, I guess it's fair to talk about the Knothole Island content that I was gibbering about for a few weeks now. Yeah...that was kind of a let down. A few meager quests with some incredibly annoying puzzle solving (I HATE Flit-Switches!), a bagful of clothing and weapons, potions to make you thin, fat, small, large and all that...and one of the most annoying NPC's I've ever encountered in a game. Yes, I'm referring to the chieftain. Every time he opened his mouth I wanted to put a bullet in him.

*sigh* ...we gamers are such consumer junkies. They'll dangle that little bit in front of you, and you'll bite the bait. 500 Microsoft points would have been a better price for an entire two hours of content.

Hopefully, the new stuff for Fallout 3 will be more fulfilling...Bethesda has yet to let me down with any of their products.

Well, that's all for now. Keep it random, folks.

The morning after

Augh, I really need to not drink before I go to bed. Alcohol seems to wind me up better than coffee. Speaking of which...

...There we go.

Was intending to attend the live webcast of the 50th episode of the Order 66 podcast over at D20Radio.com, but I got dragged off on a wild goose chase up in Phoenix for near six hours for a costume shop that has a physical address, but apparently does not exist. Urked and tired, we stopped and had dinner at the 5 & Diner on Power Road up there before dragging our behinds back down to Casa Grande for a night of Saints Row 2 and alcohol with my brother, Jo, Jade, and Kitt (a dude, I swear). Top the night off with a serving of my brothers patented Pot Spaghetti, and it was the ending of a great night, but an evening I could have lived without.

So that comic convention is looming overhead, and I honestly have no idea what we're going to be doing there besides showing up and...being who we are (which is essentially a bunch of nerds with more free time than should be allocated to a given individual at any one time trying to puff up all big and bad on the dance floor). If this was an anime convention it'd be different because I know those people more. Comic Conventions are different battlegrounds. There's a more professional air. But reservations aside...eh, it's never stopped me from making an ass out of myself before.

Comic-Con a-comin'

Doctor Scraps, tuning in--

The Phoenix Comic-Con is fast approaching, and me and the Fractured Gang are working hard to formulate our flagship con under the Fractured Transmissions banner. Last time we all went to a con, we were flying the Agents of Chaos banner.
Normally, we go to Anime conventions. This time it's a Comic Book convention, and that's a different type of energy. I'm thinking that there'll be a lot of comic industry folk there, and if I can get some one-on-one time, I can produce some legitimate material.

Ah, the things I do for syndication.


In the console: Conan (360)
First off, I was a big fan of Conan comics growing up, and watched the old Conan The Adventurer cartoon series religiously on the weekends. The game carries that distinct barbarian charm, but it's the gameplay that hangs like the proverbial albatross around it's neck...It tries very hard to be God of War, but falters in that it's simply going from one bland arena to the next, hacking and slashing enemies to progress. I just got done with the Sand Dragon boss and now have the magic abilities, so lets see if that offers anything to the game.

Until next time, signing out.