This Is War

Look around.

Everywhere you look, all over, the same thing.  It’s clear, if you haven’t noticed it yet, that we are in the middle of a war.

All over the internet, people try to coax you to their side.  Claim their side is better, recruit new soldiers to fight their battles.  Amplifying and spreading the failing points of the opposing sides to spread propaganda, hyping up all that is different between their side and the others.

In fact, there’s always been war.  On every forum, differences of opinion are met with flame wars, differing taste in music or functionality have always brought about a feeling of anger.  ”I think X is the best thing ever, now you must FOLLOW MY VIEW”.  Very few wars have raged so fiercely and so widespread as the one we are facing right now.

I talk of course about the CONSOLE WARS.  The seventh generation of consoles, and which is best.  Every site I visit, everywhere I go, the question follows me around: What side are you on?  Are you on the side of Microsoft and the Xbox 360?  Are you on the side of Sony and the PS3?  Or are you on the side of Nintendo and the Wii?  There’s also the lesser war of the seventh generation of handheld consoles: Are you on the side of Sony and the PSP?  Or are you on the side of Nintendo and the DSi?

But still, the question.  What side are you on?  Like a Choose Your Own Adventure story that has three options that all lead the same way, but one that can determine your friends, enemies, and alliances on the internet.  Because the internet is a battleground, and we are its soldiers, martyrs of the seventh generation.

It works the other way around as well, your friends can decide the side you take just as much as the side you take can decide your friends.  When I decided to join the seventh generation of consoles I turned to those around me for their opinions, I inherited their sides and took their propaganda.  Constantly I was told of the PS3’s failures.  There’s no escaping the propaganda though; if I hadn’t joined my friends side then I’d have looked on the internet to make a choice between the 360 and the PS3, and then it’s just random luck as to whether I get a 360 loving website or a PS3 loving one.

Here’s my stance in the war.  I’m standing right in the middle.  I own all three, which gives me the opportunity to look back and compare them all.

So here’s my verdict:

THEY ARE ALL GOOD.  NOT GREAT, NOWHERE NEAR PERFECT, BUT THEY’RE ALL GOOD.

From the sixth and seventh generations I’ve played, and own, the PS3, PS2, DS, Wii, Xbox 360.  Now, the task of putting them in order. (Geeky version) But the consoles don’t implement Comparable<Consoles>.  There is no compareTo(Object other) method implementation.  (Slightly less geeky version: It’s simply impossible to compare two consoles and state which is better).

Here’s the series of tweets that inspired this blog post:

Mindez is playing some Pokémon Ranger. DSi and Pokémon Diamond should arrive on Monday, wewt.
shaundon @Mindez y would u want a nintendo, u may as well get one of those fisher price fake kids laptops too while ur at it!
Mindez @shaundon I really can’t think of a response to that on the fly without raging, so I’ll tentatively say that I’ll blog about it later.
shaundon @Mindez ok..guess isn’t as bad seein as u hav a ps3, I’m just not a fan of nintendo with their lack of wanting to advance tech
Mindez @shaundon Depends. See, what they lack in graphical capability they more than make up for in functionality. Touch screen, motion sensor etc.
Mindez @shaundon In terms of fun games to play I’d rank the Wii/DS toward the highest, but PS3 and the 360 both have their share of great games.
Mindez @shaundon In general I’m not a fan of the current gen of console games; they tend to favour good graphics over fun to play games.
Badgerati @shaundon @Mindez 360 stills rules all, thats right @shaundon i said it =)
Mindez @Badgerati So we have you on the 360 side, @shaundon on the PS3 side, and me backing Nintendo… little war we have going here?
shaundon @Mindez @Badgerati Heres the thing, I’d love to have a wii AND a ps3 but never just a wii cos its like a ps2 accessory made into a console
shaundon @Badgerati 360 rules nothing! Want a HDD? Buy a MS one. Want a headset? MS one! Wifi? MS one! Online? £40/year please! And ‘ms points’ wtf

Graphics Quality

- We’ll remove the Wii from this one, since it has no chance.
- Source: http://uk.gamespot.com/features/6162742/index.html
- Source: http://uk.gamespot.com/features/6201700/index.html
- In general, from both experience and some research, the graphics quality for the PS3 and the Xbox 360 are VERY similar.     Literally, very similar.  It looks like the two have some lighting differences, but such that it seems to make some games look better with the 360 and some with the PS3.  Incomparable, and a tie.  That’s 5 points to the 360, 5 points to the PS3.

Game Choice

- Including the Wii again.
- This is going to be very subjective, because peoples opinions in games is very subjective.  Personally I’m more of an RPG fan than a racing game fan, and so on.  I’ll give the Wii 6 points, the 360 4 points, and the PS3 0 points. But again, this may just be because my PS3 library is so small.  The Wii gets 4 points because many of the games are quite revolutionary, using the motion sensor in new ways, ideas like the Wii Fit, etc.  I think that the difference between the 360 and the PS3 is more a matter of opinion.  However, many of the marks docked from the PS3 are because of it losing its exclusivity on FFXIII, GTA4, RE5, etc.  Losing exclusivity is a big blow.

Networking

- Points to the Wii and the PS3 for a very easy to use wireless setup.  Points away from the 360, meanwhile, for not coming with any wireless at all on launch.  That is a problem.  That is a bad thing. Wireless is good.  More points off the 360 for being full of 13 year old kids and having a subscription fee, so I’m going to give this one 4-4-2.  4 to the Wii, 4 to the PS3, 2 to the 360.

Inspiration

- The Wii has inspired many to discover new things that could be done with the technology.  By using a motion sensor, and completely wireless controls, has allowed things like Wii Sports, Warioware, Wii Fit, etc.  Quite genius ways of going about things.  And the number of things possible with the balance board or a Wiimote that people have come up with is quite inspiring.  The Wii gets high points for this one.  The 360 and the PS3, in comparison with their previous incarnations, have a faster processor and an upgraded graphics engine.  Not tremendously inspiring, but the graphics have been used to make some pretty awesome game shots.  2 to the PS3, 2 to the 360, 6 to the Wii.

Architecture

- The Wii fails HARD on architecture.  http://hackmii.com/2009/02/why-the-wii-will-never-get-any-better/ demonstrates a lot of problems with the Wii’s architecture.  Put basically, the Wii has NO OPERATING SYSTEM AT ALL.  Every single thing, down to the drivers that operate the Wiimote, all has to be loaded on the disc.  This means it cannot get better, there can be no updates to the game.  The PS3 and the 360 both use the same clock speed processor, despite being different models.  So again, hard to draw a comparison.  5-5-0 for this one, the Wii gets a massive 0 for not having an operating system.

Stability

- All three have generally similar stabilities, except notably the xbox 360, which has the dreaded problem of the RED RING OF DEATH.  This gets it marked down, but until it happens to me it’s not a big problem.  I’ll give this one out 4-4-2, 4 to the Wii, 4 to the PS3, and 2 to the 360.

There we go.  20 points to the Wii, 20 points to the 360, 20 points to the PS3.  That’s the side I’m on in this war.  The open minded side, the side that realises that each console has things it’s amazing at and things that it sucks at.  That each console is good for different things, and the side that doesn’t want to miss out on the opportunity of any.

We are open minded.

We are happy, we live playing any game we want and make a good gaming experience a reality rather than confine ourselves to a limit of game choice and experience.

We have fun rather than flame others for their beliefs.

We are the winning side.

So, which side do YOU want to be on?

Believe in yourself

Well, it’s been an interesting day.  Started out with a hectic to-do list, but I’m rather pleased with the way I’ve managed to fit everything in.  Had to be in uni at 9 for student registration; sign a sheet of paper and I’m off.  Easy stuff.  Then a lot of waiting around until 11, at which I had an introductory laboratory session on the UNIX computers.  Picked up my student swipe card (after a nice 2 hour queue) and was back home for 4.  Checked mail, complained about my swipe card not working, returned my inventory checklist copy to reception..

And on top of that, a new kill has been added to my collection of experience.  Gurtogg Bloodboil, the fifth boss of Black Temple, has officially been downed for the first time by the guild Unseen!  Because we rule like that.  Couldn’t go on to sixth boss though; needs a different group setup.  But we’re now officially 5/9 bosses through Black Temple.  Whether we’ll clear it before Wrath of the Lich King hits.. remains to be seen.

So on the whole, today has been a very good day.

Oh, and I updated my blog.  That completes my to-do list.

Lectures for 4 hours tomorrow morning, yay.  I think it’s sleep time now to prepare for that.  Didn’t get much sleep before 5 last night for idiots screaming and shouting in the streets.  I fell asleep listening to Dragonforce on full blast through headphones at 5, which was actually much quieter than the shouting.

It worked though.  And it turns out, if I order a pizza, I have to walk FURTHER to reach the delivery point for our halls of residence than the actual pizza shop itself.  Well, until my swipe card works on the damn gate.  Which it will in “a few days”.

Bloodboil is down!

Hint: I’m the one with the bright yellow wings.  It’s a paladin ability.

OPERATION: Sleeper Cell

It’s been a while since a trailhead for an alternate reality game has kept my attention long enough to get me to actually sign up. But recently I’ve had so little to do, days have lasted years in the short run-up to moving out. But I found a trailhead site that looks interesting; http://www.operationsleepercell.com/

An anonymous agency described as “a top secret organisation devoted to making the world a lovelier place” is recruiting trainee special agents “willing to dedicate (at least some of) their lives to furthering loveliness in the world“. The ARG is a charity thing for Cancer Research UK led by http://www.law37.com/ as part of http://www.letschangethegame.org/ (A competition to design an ARG for Cancer Research). Tasks will include “subterfuge, disguise, infiltration, code-breaking, and, erm, eating lots of biscuits” – All my strong points. Especially the biscuits.

Apparently they’ve “got some Sleeper Agents hidden around the country” but “uh, ‘misplaced’ them”.

But my incentive is this: “once your task is completed, we’ll start to train you as one of our Agents, working alongside some of the ‘best’ in the business. Then, you’ll get to use these skills in order to spread loveliness across the globe and combat very nasty things. And we might even give you some free biscuits. If you’re lucky”. Who doesn’t love an ARG that gives away free biscuits?

There’s a free ringtone as well, which I’ve got. Took a while to actually get it on my phone since I no longer have Binky with bluetooth access, had to upload it to my webspace as an mp3 and download it to the phone. Can’t find Binky’s power cables

The ringtones, apparently, will “signal to our Sleeper Agents that we need their help and that it’s, well, time for them to wake up”. I’m not sure how this game will work but it seems like the kind of game where the sleeper agents will always be placed nowhere near me and I’ll never find them. Either way, it’d be quite rewarding to be wandering around Manchester, my phone go off, and some stranger nearby turning out to be a sleeper agent. On a realistic note, though, that’s quite unlikely to happen.

I suppose for now I have nothing to do other than “sit tight for further instructions which we’ll send to your e-mail address”. But it looks interesting from what has been shown; it’s managed to draw me in long enough to sign up (Which is a good selling point, normally they don’t get that far).

Ah, I think I’m ready to move on from Perplex City… sadly.

Analysis of Rogues

Crossposted from http://mindezeebaideologies.blogspot.com/

You.. wouldn’t.. like.. me.. when.. I’m.. angry…

Urgh, the ever-increasing amount of noobs on Halo 3 is starting to annoy me.  A side effect of a successful game in a way, but it just makes you wonder how these people actually manage to fit into civilised society.  Seemingly blind people with 0 kills versus my 20 in a match, shouting their heads off after the match about how they were the best in the match and everyone on their team were all fags.   Retards pretending to not know how to play the game, shouting “HOW DO YOU SHOOT!” for half the match while you try to concentrate on a kill.

To be fair, though, this analysis only holds true on Social matches.  Given my high rank on Ranked matches I only get pitted against other people that are good at the game as well, and they are much funner.  Social is simple, and I only use it every now and then to get experience.  But just because there is no penalty for losing a game doesn’t mean that you should just piss around and act like retards on it, does it?

It’s all about this waving things in front of someone.  You will get a reward if you win.  You will get a penalty if you lose.  This is how it is on ranked.  You win matches, your skill level increases.  You lose matches, your skill level decreases.  On Social, there is no skill ranking system, and so no penalty for failure.  So nobody tries, nobody plays.

It’s all related to the blog posts I made months ago – WHY do people play games?  Must people be constantly shown reward for winning in order to get people to actually play? To me, Social on Halo 3 seems to prove that without penalty for loss, people just DON’T CARE, and don’t want to play properly, quitting early, being retards on microphone, etc.

Xbox Live has a wonderful thing called “File Complaint”, which can get people banned if they receive enough complaints (allegedly).  I’ve been using this an awful lot recently on social.  I’ll give them a penalty for being a retard even if the game won’t. Because they deserve it, they clearly don’t want to play, they just want to piss people off.  People that want to play the game.  Like me.  Any Halo 3 social gamers out there that are getting annoyed at them as well, I encourage you to do the same.  it’s what the feature’s for, anyway.   And if it’s the only way to make Halo 3 Social playable, it’s necessary.

Anyway, I just wrote this to vent some anger without shouting my head off over xbox live like some people seem to.

It’s strange, I never had problems with Social games before a couple of days ago, and now every match is just a retardfest.

I want to do something video-y.  Perhaps some kind of vlog, or a one-man series.  I dunno.  Any ideas, comments plz.

-Mindez

Portal

This was a triumph.
I’m making a note here:
HUGE SUCCESS.
It’s hard to overstate
my satisfaction.
Aperture Science.
We do what we must
because we can.
For the good of all of us
Except the ones who are dead.
But there’s no sense crying
over every mistake.
You just keep on trying
till you run out of cake.
And the Science gets done
And you make a neat gun
For the people who are still alive.

I’m not even angry.
I’m being so sincere right now.
Even though you broke my heart
And killed me.
And tore me to pieces.
And threw every piece into a fire.
As they burned it hurt because
I was so happy for you!
Now these points of data
make a beautiful line.
And we’re out of beta
We’re releasing on time.
So I’m GLaD I got burned.
Think of all the things we learned
for the people who are
still alive.

Go ahead and leave me.
I think I prefer to stay inside.
Maybe you’ll find someone else
to help you.
Maybe Black Mesa…
THAT WAS A JOKE. HA HA. FAT CHANCE.
Anyway, this cake is great.
It’s so delicious and moist.
Look at me still talking
when there’s Science to do.
When I look out there,
it makes me GLaD I’m not you.
I’ve experiments to run.
There is research to be done.
On the people who are still alive.

PS. And believe me I am still alive.

PPS. I’m doing Science and I’m still alive.

PPPS. I feel FANTASTIC and I’m still alive.

FINAL THOUGHT:
While you’re dying I’ll be
still alive.

FINAL THOUGHT PS:
And when you’re dead I will be
still alive.

STILL ALIVE.

Portal is a great game. Best two hour long game evar. Go, go play it. No, stop reading. STOP READING. GO PLAY IT. NOW.

Futile despair

Why do I have a habit of picking such terrible hobbies for me?

It’s quite ridiculous, being a new player is no longer an excuse for me to do terribly, and I just feel that I am extremely terrible at this game.  The futile pointlessness is getting to me, frankly.

Perhaps it is the mental strain of not having won a single match in the last 3 weeks, in 6 events.  I’ve gotten steadily worse since I started trying to get better, in fact.   My skill level just seems to be going nowhere.  I want to be good, I do.  But I don’t know how.

Perhaps it is, in fact, the fact that I spend money on train tickets to get there, 40 minutes of travel, and when I’m there, I just.. fail, horribly.

Bleh.

I has made a deck!

Woo, I actually made a Magic: The Gathering deck today. Of my own design and everything.  S’probably sucky, I’ve only played it in solitaire games at the moment.  Nowhere near got the cards required to have the game in real cards.

5 Forest
2 Overgrowth
2 Diabolic Tutor
1 Akroma’s Memorial
9 Swamp
3 Damnation
1 Mortal Combat
3 Birds of Paradise
3 Llanowar Wastes
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Phyrexian Ironfoot
2 Pithing Needle
3 Thrumming Stone
20 Relentless Rats

Basic idea of the deck:

Turns 1-2, mana accel.  Birds of Paradise, Overgrowth, dual lands, etc.
Turn 3-4, mana accel if don’t have enough, otherwise start setting up the combo.  Diabolic Tutor if necessary to find Thrumming Stone. Throw a Rats out if I have more than one in my hand.
Turn 3-5 [depending on how accelerated my mana is], play Thrumming Stone.
Turn 4-6, play a Rats.  The effect of Thrumming stone practically lets me summon every Rats from my deck by playing 1.  The result?  20 21/21 creatures.
Turn 5-7, play Akroma’s Memorial.  The result?  20 21/21 creatures with flying and trample and protection from red/black and vigilance and first strike.  The only thing that can save the opponent now is a Wrath Of God.
Turn 6-8, if the opponent DOES manage to somehow play Wrath Of God, play ‘Mortal Combat’.  If I have 20 monsters in my graveyard [all my rats after WoG destroys them all], I win the game at the start of my next turn.  He gets a free turn unless I throw a random blocker out, but it shouldn’t be enough to kill me.  After all, he did just Wrath Of God the field, so he has no creatures either.

Alternatively, if I find myself unable to attack, somehow, with my 20 21/21 creatures with flying and trample and vigilance and first strike and protection from red/black, I play Mortal Combat on turn 6 and then Damnation everything.  Damnation is basically a black Wrath Of God.

Pithing Needle is filler in case the opponent gets something with a good activated ability.  Phyrexian is a random blocker.  That’s about it.

I may play the deck online for a bit, and then if it is good, seek out the cards to make it for my real deck.

I’m feeling decidedly ambivalent.

Anything else new?  Not really.  I finished watching Heroes today, that was depressing.  The series is absolutely fantastic.  I will no spoilers post, at least until it’s finished showing on TV here.

NINETY FIVE DAYS REMAINING UNTIL BILL BAILEY.

-Mindez

At last, could it be going somewhere?

Well, I had a Magic tournament last night.  Sealed event.  And, and I’m still in shock from this, I.. I came second.  In the whole tournament, out of about 16 people.  I won 3 matches, lost 1.  My best tournament record ever.

*still in shock, by the way*

The overwhelming futility of my hobby, for the short time from now until the next tournament at least, seems to have shrunk.  The next tournament is Standard, and my Standard deck is rather terrible.  I won a casual game with it today though, so.. guess I’ll hope for the best.  Or build a new one.  But now, I have so many mountains of sorted cards, I wouldn’t know where to begin finding good cards.

I don’t have anything particularly to talk about now, though.  Spent the last 6 hours sorting all my cards and seperating my rares.

Keep commenting on the last post about games, comments are greatly appreciated.  And my ego wants me to think people read this blog.

Why play games?

With old consoles like the Playstation, there was no way to get physical gain.Why do people play games? Is it the joy of playing, the possible physical gain (prizes), or the mental gain (leaderboards, respect etc).

Originally, particularly noticably with video games, it was certainly the joy of playing. With old consoles like the Playstation, there was no way to get physical gain. No way to get a global leaderboard or anything. Then consoles were connected up to the internet. The new generation of consoles, the XBox 360, the PS2/3.. and then it seemed to be more about the mental gain, and the joy of playing. Many games now have global leaderboards, you can see who the best Guitar Hero player is in the world, you can see how you compare. If you’re good enough, you can demand respect from other players.If a game is released, so what? What can you get out of it?

And in recent years, there has been a lot of growth for games on the internet. Things like Perplex City had physical gain, there are lots of online game websites that give out prizes for being good at particular games.

Incentive to play games no longer seems to be simply ‘joy of playing’ any more. If a game is released, so what? What can you get out of it? If it’s not online then there doesn’t seem any point in it any more.

This is a particular problem for me, and the game I hope to bring out. I haven’t got the resources to offer any physical incentives for playing, or mental incentives. This has been criticised by one of the people that is working on it with me..Are the days of 8-bit offline games well and truly gone, pushed out by cash rewards and global leaderboards?

I want your thoughts. Are physical/mental incentives pretty much required for a game you have to buy in the modern world? Are the days of 8-bit offline games well and truly gone, pushed out by cash rewards and global leaderboards?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Comments please!

-Mindez