Revision #69

http://magnum54.homestead.com/files/partyelephant.jpg

Age: 19
Occupation: College Student
Whereabouts: Nowhere, Illinois (roughly around the middle)

Mag's Stack of Stuff

Stokermania '03
The 2004 Antioch Cast Picture Page
Max Payne 2 Review

What's Up

December 10

I am so out of here.

Or as Kramer would say: "Up here, I'm already gone."

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Civilization 4 has been announced. Let's hope this time it's slightly more interesting than caulk.

Maybe they can tighten a few screws and get the graphics not to suck, either. I know, I know, Sid Meier's a legend, yadda yadda. Call me when his Legendness decides to step down amongst the unwashed and make something a little more mainstream.

A little real time combat wouldn't kill it. Rise of Nations balanced the two pretty well, I hear, as well as did Lords of the Realm 2. (What ever happened to 3? Did that get thrown under the media bus or what?)

Anyway, the turn-based strategy game has long been on life support, which is why Civ 4 is important. Or maybe it's not. I don't know, nobody cared about SimCity 4 (though I understand it's a great game), and I think the Sims has been milked for all it's worth, so we look to a bright and bold future of endless RPGs, MMORPGs, and sports games.

Come quickly, Starcraft 2!

A few other notes: Did you see that Sony released Lords of Everquest and managed not to get slapped with a plagiarism lawsuit from Blizzard? Increíble.

I played the AoM: Titans demo, and was greeted by the same crappy interface that kept Age of Kings from becoming one of the all-time great games. The main font, used almost exclusively in Age of Kings and the Conquerors is poorly outlined, too small and very difficult to read against the eye-bleedingly bright green grass. The water effects are nice, and everything's got that "miniature" feel, which I think has always been one of the Age series' strengths (it gives you a nice, lofty view of giant armies smashing into each other that adds well to the epic feel), but even at 1024x768 resolution, the buttons are miniscule, the resource bar shoved inconveniently into the lower left corner, and the hotkeys are clumsy and difficult to remember.

Call me spoiled rotten by Blizzard, but I'm now aware that a great game requires a smooth interface. Warcraft 3's is larger than most (as a percentage of screen space), but because it takes up more room you don't have to slide your mouse five feet across the desk to reach the "Build Peon" button. I'd like to see a standard for RTS hotkeys, as well, much like Half-Life set the standard for FPS games. When I want a house, I want H for house, not E, consarnit.

I can't really comment on the gameplay, because the first ten minutes were spent two inches from the screen, attempting to read the buttons and scouting the terrain with my Atlantean Wonder Scout or whatever the stupid thing was (He found two pigs and proudly reported home).

Maybe I'll give it another shot. Right around the time I clear a few hours of my life to try, for the third and final time, to force an interest in Homeworld.

Still debating whether to spring for DX2. Phigment seems to enjoy it, but what does he know.


December 6

Kerry drops the F-bomb

Reportedly, John Kerry has hired David Mamet as his official speechwriter. This marks the greatest use of on-the-campaign-trail profanity, edging out Dubya's 1999 labeling of Adam Clymer as a "major leage asshole."

Big time!


December 2

"White folks was in caves while we was building empires... We taught philosophy and astrology and mathematics before Socrates and them Greek homos ever got around to it." — Rev. Al Sharpton in a 1994 speech at Kean College, NJ

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But, seriously folks. Haven't you ever wanted to read the Gettysburg Address in 29 different languages? Sure you have.