jdodson1

Joined 01/23/2012
  Admin

I'm an Engineer and built the video game community Cheerful Ghost and text based mini-MMO Tale of the White Wyvern.

2757 Posts

Recent article highlighting the new Siren in Borderlands
Recent article highlighting the new Siren in Borderlands 2.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/121/1219322p1.html

Update:
Another article about the commando: http://pc.ign.com/articles/121/1219370p1.html?utm_campaign=twposts&utm_source=twitter

Since this game recently went free to play I decided to
Since this game recently went free to play I decided to install it and give it a shot because the price was right.

After a bit of downloading I installed the game and created an account. Process wasn't horrible and I was greeted with some options for creating an account.

I wanted to roll a Wizard or Mage so I clicked the EQ2 version of that. Couldn't play as that character for free so I clicked a less fun class to play. I honestly don't remember what I was bummed I couldn't roll a Wizard/Mage. I was then presented with a screen to pick some hair color and some other stuff I didn't care about. I clicked random as much as I could but it would have been better to just click "randomize the whole character" than clicking "random" 50 times.

I just wanted to quickly try the game to see what it was, so after a few clicks I was in the game. The game then asked me where I wanted to spawn. I had no idea. I clicked somewhere but that wasn't right I clicked something else. I spawned on a beach. I hit "W" thinking that would move my character forward and it did not. Confused. I hit a few keys and then a few other random bits and my character started running forward. I had no idea what I pressed and he wouldn't stop running. I ran past a few people attacking crabs and then realized I was sprinting straight to the water.

My character hit the water and I noticed I could read what the keys were mapped to in a menu setting. I realized hitting the quit button was more interesting than that.

Doom 3 is a game that I happily put on my most loved games
Doom 3 is a game that I happily put on my most loved games list. I have played it through a few times now and every time really enjoy myself. Some people hate on the fact you cant use the flashlight and a fun at the same time. Some people hate on the fact that the game is dark. But both of those things are game mechanics that make the game even more unique and fun for me. For instance, when you are walking through the Mars base and its dark you can either:

A) Keep your shotgun handy and stay "safe" knowing you can shoot zombie heads off.

Or

B) Have your flashlight ready and see whats ahead while not being able to do jack squat when a demon starts throwing fireballs at your face.

Many times I had my flashlight handy and something jumped at me and I frantically switched to a better gun while flailing around with my flashlight trying to stay alive.

Doom 3 also had a really great art style. I don't look at screen shots or boot it up and think its a dated game. It still looks great.

It also had some really cool stuff included like Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3D and the whole martianbuddy.com locker.

I also really enjoyed the audio and video discs you could find all over Mars base and I listened to them all and thought they really added to the game depth. It was fun to find a new audio diary, flick it on and listen to the audio as I made my way through corpse strewn hallways.

I was wondering what people had to say about the possible
I was wondering what people had to say about the possible insinuation in Portal 2 that Chell is Caroline/Glados's kid by Cave Johnson.

It seems possible, but the game only references it in a few ways. Quoting off the Half-Life wiki http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Chell

"...information revealed in Portal 2 implies that Chell was the child of an Aperture scientist and was touring the facility on Bring Your Daughter To Work Day when GLaDOS took over."

Caroline and Cave Johnson had a relationship, which is implied in the game. It seems Caroline has a connection to Chell, possibly before she was transferred into the computer.

Anyways, wondering your thoughts about it.

Here are a few game soundtracks I have wanted to talk
Here are a few game soundtracks I have wanted to talk about:

Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty: Got this soundtrack from the collectors edition bundle of Starcraft 2. I am not sure I love all the ways they mesh typical orchestral faire that moves to guitar that then moves to synth though. They do this in a few songs and I think they should just pick on motif and stick with it. Moving around that much in one song is jarring.

That said, its a great score and a few times I can hear people breathing in the orchestra so the mics at Skywalker Sound really hot that day.

The Binding of Issac: The score came with the steam game if I gave them like $2 extra. The score is really haunting and gives the game extra creep factor. Plus the intro voice over and music is included and is always a daunting treat to hear it come on randomly when im shufflin' my songs.

CaveStory+: I guess the version I have is the remixed/remastered version of the soundtrack. That said, its about as great as any classic NES score. Well. Maybe not Zelda or Mario, but its fun to listen through as it brings me back to the 90's.

Portal 2: Just listened to a few tracks of this today. The strongest parts of this score are the moody songs. The faster electronic music is fine but its not really my style of that sort of music. If I could put words on how I think about certain moody tracks of this score is "defeated," "thought," and "tragic."

I recently had Portal 2 on PS3 returned to me as a friend
I recently had Portal 2 on PS3 returned to me as a friend had been borrowing it for a few months. I started up a new game today as ive wanted to replay it for some time. Taking my time this playthrough as I missed a few things in my first playthrough.

I took a few pictures on my iPhone of stuff I thought was awesome:

http://imgur.com/U36kq (history of evil)
http://imgur.com/t4AGw (she is dead)
http://imgur.com/xx6Pr (so many choices)

I found a rat den where a radio plays The Nationals Exile Vilify. I missed that in my haste on the first playthough. I really like games where you can explore and find cool stuff. Playing through Portal 2 again is still really fun. The puzzles are still fresh even though the solution isn't too far away in my memory.

At the point where Wheatley pops off his rail and you have to pick him up I just kicked him around the room until he got stuck. I remember an article where the actor that played Wheatley said most of his dialog time was spent recording lines most people wouldn't hear because they dont go the wrong way or take too long to do things. This time I am going the wrong way and taking too long to do things. Haven't heard any looped dialog yet.

When Portal 2 was nearing release they put out the free comic called Lab Rat. You can download the comic and the entire 64 track soundtrack on their site for free: http://www.thinkwithportals.com/media_19.php If you haven't read the comic, you should its really good.

Lab Rat was one of the few comics that I read many times over. It ties neatly Portal -> Portal 2 and asks some questions the game really doesn't answer. The Rat Dens are obviously the product of the guy from Lab Rat but I wonder if this guy will make an appearance in a later Portal?

Looking forward to making my way through the rest of the game for the second time.

Age of Booty!
I haven't delved too deepy in downloadable games for the PS3. I am still wrapping my head around the new digital download world for PC games. That said, I picked up a few PS3 downloadable games and Age of Booty was one of them.

Its a real time strategy game where you play a pirate and you goal is to control the majority of the towns and then you win the round. You can do 1v1, 2v2 & 3v3. You can play online and split screen multiplayer as well.

One cool thing about Age of Booty is that its accessible enough for my wife and I to play together. Its not a terribly deep game so we don't play it a lot, but when we do its quite fun. One nice thing is that all the extras for the game are free. Basically they have made available a bunch of extra maps, often community create for you to download. That really adds to the replayablility of the game.

If you are looking for a good pick up and play RTS game with a pirate theme, Age of Booty is a fun choice.

Minecraft Legos? Awesome.

Minecraft Legos? Awesome.

http://legocuusoo.posterous.com/announcing-lego-minecraft-micro-world-the-thi

Wanted to post my current stats for Dont Run with a Plasma
Wanted to post my current stats for Don't Run with a Plasma Sword.

Time played: 24m
Games Played: 27
Total Kills: 168

Best Distance:
Easy: 2578

Trying to get over 3000 for my best distance but I need to adopt a better strategy on jumping because it seems later the game starts making the levels harder by making you jump all the time on small platforms. Since you can only tap on a circle to jump and the circle isnt large, often times my tap to jump isn't registered. Or at least, thats what I tell myself :)

A frustration I often have with phone games, analog sticks always registered my taps on the physical buttons.

Gem Keeper is a fun iPhone tower defense game I have been
Gem Keeper is a fun iPhone tower defense game I have been enjoying lately. I picked it up for free on special as I don't tend to buy many iPhone games. The game starts simple and then adds more towers gradually in the first single player set of levels.

Ive enjoyed the tower that slows enemies down and the bomb tower. I am playing the game on easy and find that sufficent diffculty to be interesting. Ive just unlocked endless mode which is pretty diffcult on any level because you are going to lose, its just a matter of how long you hold out.