New Poll - Real Life website?

So here's my latest poll:

Do you have a website for the real life you?

Yes, Face Book
Yes, MySpace
Yes, personal website
Yes, more than 1 above
Yes, all of the above
No

Vote in the poll then be sure to come back here and leave me a comment about which option you picked. If you want you can even leave your Face Book/MySpace/website address in the comment so I can stalk . . . I mean check out the real you.

Gaming Goal completion/addition

Since I finally found my Star Wars: The Force Unleashed game I can cross that off my list of things I want to accomplish. Yeah me! I think what I'll add in it's place is this one:

10. Play Final Fantasy X-2 along with metallicorphen.

I think he's still planning on playing this game. If so I'd be happy to play along and commiserate about how tings are going. Or not. It's really up to him. But I want to make sure orphie has COMPLETELY finished FFX first. Yes, some of the end battles are a pain, but trust me they're worth it.

It's been so long since I've played this game that I think I'll have to start over. I can't remember where I was in the story for the life of me. And I think I got distracted by some mini-games and spent more time playing those instead of the main story. But that's a Final Fantasy game for ya.

If anyone has a game they think I should play while they play along in it too (and maybe even do some co-cop campaigning if it's in the game) let me know. If I've got (and got the time to play it) I wouldn't mind a little friendly banter as we level up.

Poll Results - How stupid am I?

Okay, here's the results from my latest poll:

How stupid do you think I am?

I'm surprised you know your own name = 1 vote
It's a good thing breathing is automatic = 4 votes
Stupid is as stupid does = 4 votes
You're not stupid . . . you're just dumb = 0 votes

I know you were all reluctant to vote but you should be thankful I didn't put another option in that I was considering. It would have been "all of the above".

The reason I started this poll, which was all in good fun, was one of my Gaming Goals was to find my Star Wars: The Force Unleashed game. I got this game before I moved but I hadn't seen it since then. The way I keep all of my games is that I have a large binder with who knows how many pages that can hold 4 disks to a side, eight to a page. That case has been full for some time so as I bought new games they were left in the case piled up next to the TV. In my many attempts to pack boxes and consolidate items I took some games out of their cases and put them into other cases that could hold more. Like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. Those games are multi-disk so I could put 3 or 4 disks in one case. Then I packed up.

Since I've moved I've unpacked all of my boxes that held video game equipment. I never even knew I was missing the game until I saw Pogue playing it the other day and I suddenly got the urge to play it myself. When I couldn't find the game I panicked. I'm not missing a video game! And a Star Wars one at that. I looked through my case very carefully (even saying the name of each game out loud just to make sure it wasn't the right game) and I still couldn't find it. I even unpacked and opened up each game case to see which ones might still have a disk in it. Several days went by before I tried one last act of desperation.

Next to my recliner in the family room I have a plastic tub that is partially filled with audio books that I haven't put on my book cases yet. I've been using the tub as a side table to hold my phone, remote and any beverages I might be consuming while playing. After searching everywhere else I thought I would just open it up just to make sure it's audio books only. Apparently it wasn't. I had about 6 or 7 game cases in there and guess what? One of them (Lost Odyssey) had not only my Star Wars disk but disk 2 of Lost Odyssey. I didn't even know I was missing that disk. I felt completely stupid in that the game was sitting right next to me every time I played a game or watched TV. And the fact that the tub is clear and I could have seen into it without even opening it up to know that there were game cases inside makes me feel even more stupid.

I know you all think I'm probably crazy. You're thinking "that's it?" That's what makes you think you're stupid? That's just one example of my stupidity. When I go to take my allergy medicine I walk all the way to the kitchen to get something to drink in order to take the meds when I realize I left the medicine back in my bathroom. The kitchen and my bathroom are about as far away from each other as you can get in my house. So I take a glass of milk or water all the way back to my bathroom to take my medicine only to have to walk all the way back to the kitchen in order to take care of my dirty glass. Stupid. Now, you're probably thinking, you're not stupid . . . just lazy. But there's more.

Today I brought 2 pairs of old glasses that I was going to put in the donation box we have here at work. The donation box is on the other side of the building right on the way to the cafe. I went over there once this morning for a meeting and once again this afternoon to get lunch. Did I bring the glasses with me to put in the donation box either time? Nope. See, stupid. I have lots of moments like that that just annoy the crap out of me. And the older I get the more prevalent these moments seem to get.

You combine those moments with how I've been feeling lately about things (game related and not) and I just feel stupid all the time. For instance I know someone from my writer's website that I'm a moderator on. He was able to get admitted into Orson Scott Card's week long writer's boot camp a couple of years ago. I was only able to get into the open 2 day course (which anyone could attend) because my story was not good enough to be accepted. He recently had his first novel published in January and it's already on it's third printing (which is huge for a first time novelist) and at last glance it was number 30 on the New York Time's Bestseller List (the book is titled Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet). I think there's a fine line between being really excited for someone and being total jealous of them. With Jamie I crossed that line recently and it's made me feel really stupid that he's doing all these great things with his life (things that I've always wanted to do, but haven't) and I haven't even finish a novel myself. Stupid.

Then, gaming related, I've felt really stupid because my game play has sucked even more so than usually for the last little while. It's hard sometimes to play with people that are raking up 10+ kills in a 5 game match when I'm over the moon just getting 2 kills or maybe just not dying 5 times. When I compare my numbers to theirs it's pathetic and as much as I like playing with them I wonder why, no matter what I do, I just can't seem to get any better. Stupid.

You know that fine line between being excited for someone and jealous of them? Well, I'm starting to teeter over that line occasionally with my friends and when I do teeter over I don't enjoy playing the game as much as I use to. No matter how much I like my friends.

Is this something that my friends are making me feel? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!! This is something that, for some reason, I'm putting on myself. Every time I get reminded of the stupid things I do in life (or what I'm not doing) I become more aware of the stupid things I do in video games. Stupid things, like not knowing how to fix my computer = poor game play. Not knowing what type of new computer to get = stupid game play. Not dropping off old glasses = stupid game play. Not writing my New York Times Bestselling novel = stupid game play. Not killing anyone and/or dying instantly in games = stupid game play. I even feel stupid for bringing the matter up because I think it's effected some of my friends and maybe damaged some of my friendships. Stupid.

I want my friends to know that I am still happy and excited for you when you play really well in a match, but for now I'm still going to be hard on myself about how I play. That doesn't mean you should change how you play the game, or the over abundant excitement (i.e. yelling) that you might experience while playing the game with me. I told you in my comments to my Ugh! post that I don't take it personally, it's just a stupid things I'm going through right now. And despite how stupidly I play I hope you're still willing to play with me. Or at least send me an invite if you're desperate enough to get a full team. I might be stupid, but I still understand desperation for a full team (more on that in another post).

Besides, like popcorn and oatmeal, this too shall pass (however unpleasantly). But until then, stupid is as stupid does. So now you know how I voted and why.

Surround sound with Dead Space?

So, I've owned a copy of Dead Space for a while now but never got around to putting it in the machine and firing it up. I finally did that this weekend. I never knew it came with surround sound. Or did it?

I didn't get very far in the game before I turned it off but not because I was jumping at every little noise and shadow I saw. I just wanted to play something else a little less . . . intense.

The game really started to freak me out when after your main character goes down the elevator and steps out into the first room. There's a message on the wall that says something about taking their limbs off. Okay, I get the hint. Except I kept hearing a noise that always seemed to be behind my character. After spending about 10 minutes doing pirouettes trying to make sure something isn't going to sneak up on me I finally figured out what the noise was.

It was my dog snoring.

My dog Zoe was sitting on the chair behind me and she's never really snored before so I didn't associate the sound with her. It wasn't a log splitting, rumble down the mountain kind of snore either. Just something soft and maybe a little pleasant sounding except for the fact that I thought it was coming from the game and I couldn't get rid of it. The game was generating moans and creeks so why not something like a snore . . . especially if it didn't really sound like a snore. More like heavy, deep breathing. It fit well within the game and helped in the "let's creep Pengwenn out as much as we can" department.

So yeah, I'm stupid. My dog was snoring and it was creeping me out. See, that's the kind of stupid I'm talking about people. Now, if you were playing a scary game with someone breathing deeply right behind you I think you'd be creeped out to. Or maybe you'd think you suddenly got a surround sound system. Yeah, I know, stupid. So I don't want it hear about it.

New Poll - How stupid do you think I am?

I have a new poll up and no it's not a trick question. Answer honestly. You'll read why I asked when the poll closes.

How stupid do you think I am?

I'm surprised you even know your name.
It's a good thing breathing is automatic.
Stupid is as stupid does.
You're not stupid . . . you're just dumb.

Ugh!

I think I'm going to go home and cry. It's been that kind of day. If I'm online tonight don't expect me to play anything. I'm tired of letting my team down and I'm tired of getting yelled at for letting my team down.

Maybe a mind numbing game of Bejeweled 2 or Boogie Bunnies could do me some good. Or maybe I'll finally connect my PS2 up in my new house and play some Final Fantasy VII. Or maybe I'll just crawl in my bed, when I get home, and go to sleep. It's been that kind of day.

Poll results - Quality of games in this economy?

So here are the results for the latest poll:

Are you worried about the effects this economy will have on the QUALITY of new games?

No = 4
Yes = 5
Eh? = 1

Okay, who ever voted that they didn't know what's wrong with the economy better start watching the news. Of course, with all the doom and gloom they've been reporting I've stopped watching the news altogether for some time now. There's only so many depressing facts I can take before I start to take it personally. Even if it's not directed at me.

So here is what I think. Yes, I think the declining economy is going to effect the quality of games coming out. Some of it will be negative and some of it will be positive.

The negatives are that good developers are going to have to reduce staff in order to still work on projects. Good games are going to get shelves (Battlefront 3 for example) because a company just isn't going to be able to create them. Some companies will no longer exist or they'll get bought up by the bigger companies and then lose their unique identities. Also games that might be close to being finished might be rushed out the door so the company will have something out there that they can make some money off of . . . hopefully. When companies are more worried about just getting a product out there so they can MAKE money instead of just spending it, games will suffer.

But I don't think it's all doom and gloom for the industry entirely. Companies that were making hack games like it was candy might fold up and those poor quality games will no longer be a blight on game shelves. Some companies might delay game releases just to make sure that they've got the best game out there because hungry gamers can make a small or semi-small game a huge hit. I think BioShock started out that way. Another good thing is that when companies fail or lose people other companies will snatch up the brightest people and might bring them together with other brighter people and they might eventually make really awesome games because of that. And something else to look forward to is that there will still be small individuals or groups that tinker around with making a game, and making it the best that they can, without any pressure form corporate suits breathing down their necks. Those games might start off small but they tend to snowball around with word of mouth. And when the economy starts to take off again there will be an explosion of games that come out that will fill whatever void quality games have left us in.

Life, politics, love and the economy all cycle on a pendulum principle. One day you're in madly in love with someone and the next you can't stand the sight of them. One day you're house doubles in value and the next day . . . well, if you have a house now a days you know what I'm talking about. All I can say is hang on and just play the games you do have now (if you can't afford to buy any new ones) because you can always afford to get games later on as a used copy. And sometimes the thrill of the hunt at finding that perfect older game can make up for any economic downturns (either personal or global) you might be experiences now. Trust me.