Saturday, August 14, 2010

Portal Cake Recipe.

As I stated in my Psychonauts review, Portal is one of my favorite games and during a recent visit to StumbleUpon, I stumbled upon some GlaDOS sounds and got to hear the Knowledge Core's full cake recipe. This was super exciting to me since it was hard for me to hear in game. So here is the full recipe, some ingredients might be hard to find.



Other locations to find recipe are on random computer screens.

Click image to enlarge or visit this site.

Written Recipe:

One 18.25 ounce package chocolate cake mix.

One can prepared coconut pecan frosting.

Three slash four cup vegetable oil.

Four large eggs.

One cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Three slash four cup butter or margarine.

One and two third cups granulated sugar.

Two cups all purpose flower.

Don't forget garnishes such as:

Fish shaped crackers.

Fish shaped candies.

Fish shaped solid waste.

Fish shaped dirt.

Fish shaped ethyl benzene.

Pull and peel licorice.

Fish shaped volatile organic compounds and sediment shaped sediment.

Candy coated peanut butter pieces. Shaped like fish.

One cup lemon juice.

Alpha resins.

Unsaturated polyester resin.

Fiberglass surface resins.

And volatile malted milk impoundments.

Nine large egg yolks.

Twelve medium geosynthetic membranes.

One cup granulated sugar.

An entry called 'how to kill someone with your bare hands.'

Two cups rhubarb, sliced.

Two slash three cup granulated rhubarb.

One tablespoon all-purpose rhubarb.

One teaspoon grated orange rhubarb.

Three tablespoons rhubarb, on fire.

One large rhubarb.

One cross borehole electro-magnetic imaging rhubarb.

Two tablespoons rhubarb juice.

Adjustable aluminum head positioner.

Slaughter electric needle injector.

Cordless electric needle injector.

Injector needle driver.

Injector needle gun.

Cranial caps.

And it contains proven preservatives, deep penetration agents, and gas and odor control chemicals.

That will deodorize and preserve putrid tissue.

Zombie Plague


I told you I would talk about it eventually, and talk I shall!!! There is so much about this game that I love and adore. Granted it's not the greatest game and generally needs a bit of tweaking to really get to a solid playability. I might cover some of my personal rule preferences on a later post, in fact I could probably do a few posts on this game because there is a lot out there for it. This post, however, will just cover the basic game and some strategies to wet you whistle. I'll provide links at the end to more stuff but I will not cover them fully until later.

About the Game:

The goals:

The premise of Zombie Plague is survival. Good for 2-7 players (it says 2-6, I've played with 7 many times) but works really well with five, one player takes the role of Zombie Master (or ZM if you will), the other players are survivors. You goal as a survivor is to work together (optional, there have been many fine Coopers in this game) and find a way to escape or barricade yourselves inside the house. As the ZM, you goal is to munch on some flesh.

Note: If you do not get the Cooper reference, please use this time to watch Night of the Living Dead.



Below are links to rules, maps, cards and other helpful printouts. Don't worry about going through them all, the first three will provide you with all you need to get started. The fourth one just links to the Board Game Geek database in case you get bored with the basic rules and maps. After you get a chance to look over the rules and maybe even play a round, have a look at the strategies I listed below for some tips.

Main Game - Original and very basic but a good starting place if you want to get a feel for the game.

Kwanchai's Zombie Plague Redesign - Updated version with nice board, slight rule changes and additional cards. You may choose to start with this one as it is a little more polished but you will have to print more.

Miniature Cutouts - If you want to try the game but don't have figures then feel free to use something like these print out miniatures. Nothing real great but they can get the job done.

Archives - If you get into it and want to explore more options take a look through them.

The strategy:

As humans, working together is a must if you want everyone to survive. Organizing who searches where, how to fight, how to handle items and weapons, it's all very teamwork based and if you have a well organized group of humans then you will almost always beat the zombies without any trouble. The fun part of this is that people are never organized and there are so many mistakes made that it feels like an actual zombie movie.

As zombies. I've seen many strategies and they all have some interesting traits. One zombie master would move the zombies in carefully laid traps and ambushes, the problem with this is why there are many more zombies on the board than humans there will never be enough to set up traps and fight against the humans all at once and so while you have zombies waiting over by this one search square, they are running around to all the others and picking up shotguns and chainsaws that will tear through the zombies no matter how tightly they are packed in there.

Another strategy I've seen is to move the zombies randomly, not sure if it was really a strategy or just an experiment, but it was interesting none the less because it takes all of the human players out of their comfort zone and prevents them from really being able to predict where the zombies will go. The problem with this one is that it takes a long time for the zombies to get anything done.

My recommended strategy as the ZM is simple, play the zombies as zombies. Pretty much the only thing I do is move them towards the closest thing that's made of living flesh. It's predictable sure but almost always effective. There can be four times+ as many zombies as humans on the board at once so if you are playing with six survivors you begin to understand how chaotic it can get . Tight corners fill the maps and with every zombie close by wanting to snack on you it doesn't take much to get surrounded, and once you're surrounded, your not far off from being dead.

Later posts will include the zombie plague set I've put together to give you some ideas on what all you can do with this game and some rule changes that you may want to consider.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Psychonauts Short Review


Okay, I'm going to keep his short because one, if you have already played this game, you know how much with the awesome it is, (and if you didn't like this game, ignore this post and go about your merry way with the not having taste). Oh, and two, there have been many other far more talented and more entertaining writers out there that have done wonderful reviews of this game, so this is gonna be a short little rant for me. Enjoy.

Psychonauts is a platformer by Tim Schafer, best know for his work at LucasArts, working as designer on such works as Grim Fandango and The Secret of Monkey Island. After leaving LucasArts, he founded his own production company known as Double Fine. Under Double Fine he released Psychonauts and also recently brought out a game called BrĂ¼tal Legend, which you may have heard of as the game with the epic awesome first half and the second half that makes you go, why did you do that?

Quick summery: Feel free to skip this paragraph, it's not going to cover any new ground. In Psychonauts, you play Raz, a young boy with amazing psychic abilities who runs away FROM the circus to go to a Psychonauts summer camp. There he is allowed to train, which is done by entering the minds of the teachers to master new abilities. Each mind is a little mini world based on the person's personality, ranging from tight, controlled minds to twisted, almost impossible to navigate minds. In their minds you can sort out their emotional baggage (quite literally), discover hidden memories and clean out some mental cobwebs while you're at it. Quickly it is discovered that there is a terrible plot afoot and Raz must go beyond just the teachers' minds to sort it all out.

This is one of those games I was told I had to play to take myself serious as a gaming. May have been a bit of an exaggeration but it is definitely a game worth playing and easily rests in my top five games (currently the other spots are occupied by Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Resident Evil 4, Portal and Doom 2. Not in order). So, what's so great about this game? The gameplay is rough at times, the learner curve it fairly static until the last few levels which I finally manage to beat just a few months ago, and then well, that's about it, those are my only complaints about this game. That's way it's so good because I, who am one of the most nit picky people you will ever know, am only able to come up with two things I do not like about it.

Not only are it's faults few, but they are incredible easy to forgive when you look at all of it's amazing attributes, number one being, it has a truly unique, entertaining and quite funny story, something increasingly rare in video games. The immense imagination, wit and, dare I say, intelligence in the game makes me feel like I'm really part of a story and I have a need to play further to get more of the story, rather than the usual video game stories in which I feel about as much connection between me and my character as I do me and a pawn in a game of chess. The characters are well defined, the situations are fantastically bizarre and the aesthetics of the game actually work with the story to make a complete, unified gaming experience.

That's really all I have to say about this, I feel bad because I just wrote this much about the Berserker from Gears of War yesterday and I don't have any attachment to GOW. But that really is it, it has some faults but it has the story to make up for it and then some. You may disagree that a good story is enough to make up for some gameplay issues (by no means unplayable), but you'd simply be wrong. Saying that to me is like saying a good story doesn't make up for poor special effects in a movie, which if that is the way you think then I can see now how Avatar was so successful.


Below are some other reviews of this game I recommend.








Here is a video lecture about video games and storytelling that mentions Psychonauts that I also recommend.



Thursday, August 12, 2010

Two top five countdowns, just cause.

Top 5 Video Game Weapons:


#5: Plasma Gun – Doom

Most say the BFG9000 and I am somewhat inclined to agree except that I never use the dang thing. I do however use the Plasma Gun from the second I get it to the second it runs out of ammo. It has the best range of use being a weapon that can hit at just about any distance and not just that but the fast launch of small plasmas means that I can shoot just a few quick rounds to take down the smaller guys and use a larger amount to take out the bigger guys. Plus, the lack of blast damage means it can be used right up close with the baddies screaming in you face. It is in my opinion the most flexible gun in the Doom series.


#4: Double Hidden Blade - Assassin's Creed 2

The hidden blade was fun in the first one but this is one case when less is more does not apply. Nothing made me more happy that walking casually up to four guards that were placed very rudely between me and where I wanted to be, and whipping out my trusty hidden blades taking out two of the guards in one fell swoop and then side stepping slightly to dispatch of the other two before they even drew their weapons. Epic.








#3: Stake gun - Painkiller

There isn't a weapon in Painkiller I don't like but I had to narrow it down to one and oh boy what a one. In case you aren't familiar with this weapon allow me to explain, the stake gun launches stakes (eureka!), but the awesome part about it is that the stakes are roughly the size of a tree. Also having a grenade launcher attached doesn't hurt either.





Below is a video containing the awesome weapons from Painkiller including the stake gun as number one, glad to see someone agrees with me.




#2: M6D Pistol - Halo

There are a few kinda neat weapons in the Halo series but nothing, and I mean nothing holds a candle to the Halo 1 pistol. Oh boy, oh boy, never has a pistol been this badass. It's not even made up to be a real cool weapon that everybody wants, it's just the best. It handles well, delivers an insane amount of damage and has ammo readily available. One shot kills over half of the enemies you face and it's the only weapon in the game that can be used equally as well in short to medium distance so it's incredibly versatile.


#1: Gravity gun - Half-life 2

Okay, I figure this was the most obvious one I could come up with but I'm still putting it as number one cause it's awesome and, well that's about it, it's just awesome. The iconic weapon of Half-Life, it starts out as kind of a fun toy to play around with, launching random objects at you enemies and using it to clear your path or create a new one. Then towards the end of the game, it gets superfied and becomes the most awesomely fun weapon I've ever played with....ever.








<----AWESOME









Top 5 Most Creepifying Enemies:



#5: Poison Zombie – Half-Life 2

What could be more terrifying than the dreaded poison headcrab from Half-Life 2? How about a zombie giving a piggyback to several poison headcrabs. Always seeming to catch me at the wrong time, these guys made playing through parts of the game a living nightmare. Upon replaying the game, I learned where they all are and now I run right to them hoping to take them out before I'm stuck in a poison headcrab and zombie mosh pit.








#4: Arch Vile – Doom 2

Doom fangirl coming through. I have been playing doom since I was four, and have been unafraid of most of the baddies but, oh man, that Arch Vile always rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't have the sense of security with him as I did with the bigger monsters that would only come out to play in certain situations. The Arch Vile could be thrown in anywhere and often hidden in the background where you have to hunt it down, a task made difficult due to the fact that it doesn't give away it's position when attacking. And then it wonders around bringing back dead monsters lying around, that's just low. The Arch Vile is one of the few monsters that I actually like the recreation of the sprite for Doom 3 though.




#3: Bella Sisters – Resident Evil 4

I hated Dr. Salvador with a passion. But I could deal. I mean he didn't show up that much and I could live through it okay. But then I came across one of those fun chose you own adventure moments Resident Evil 4 has. I chose the left. DON'T CHOOSE THE LEFT!!!! It was all hunky dory at first, I could shove Ashley in a box and run around killing freely. Everybody was happy! Then I heard the chainsaw. Oh no, not again, I thought, I don't want to fight him again. Well, big surprise, it wasn't him, it was them. Two of them and oh boy was I freaked. I manage to stick it out a few minutes but it didn't take long before I was about a foot shorter. Ever since then, I always go right. So, in case you are not too familiar with RE:4, this is what I chose to face over the Bella Sisters.



#2: ReDead – Zelda: Ocarina of Time

No! Not that!! Anything but that!!! I hate, hate, hate these things. I was happily playing my cute little Zelda game, enjoying the scenery, running through the grass hoping the guy with holes in his pockets and an endless supply of rupees had been by again. Then a stumble upon a quaint little cave and wandered in. No big right. Wrong! Big big. The piercing scream was the first warning, then, wait what's this, I can't move. What are those things coming at me, they just looked like little zombies, they can't be that bad can they? Oh no, he's getting closer. Wait, no he's on me now, what do I do, how do I- What is he doing! How can he be, oh god, he's still going! How? How is this in a Zelda game?!! Oh no, poor Link. I so sorry, I didn't know Link. Nooooo!!!! Anybody who has ever faced or watched someone else face these things knows exactly what I'm talking about. Terrifying.



#1: Berserker – Gears of War

EEEEPPP!!! Never has a video game baddie got my heart beating so fast. I'll lay out a scene for you real quick for you to understand how much I love/hate this baddie. I went over to a friend's house and he told me how he started playing GOW and really liked it but was having trouble getting past the Berserker. I was as familiar with the game as I am with the interior structure of a deep see angler so the Berserker meant little to me. I wasn't that interested in playing it but my friend wore me down and I decided to go ahead and give it a try. I played it through awhile and wasn't too impressed but I guess it was good enough for me to play it through till the Berserker showed up. Maybe I was just really wanting to beat the Berserker before my friend.

So, when it was finally time to face the big old girl, I was focused. Of course not so focused that I didn't get my face smashed in almost instantly by the thing. My friend laughed and said, “I told you she was tough,” (may have paraphrased with some slightly cleaner words than he used). The second time, however, I made it almost outside when my buddy, Dom, decided the best way to take out the Berserker was to hug her. People began to take notice that I had made it that far on the second try and crowded around the TV. I leaned forward, eyes fixed on the screen, and hands firmly gripping the controller evenly, my patented “you touch me, you die” pose. Third try, made it outside and keenly observed the land, there was little to place between me and the she-beast and being very frantic, I tried to kill her in the open. This resulted in me being smashed into a pancake. Sighs were heard throughout the room.

Fourth try, final try, for I knew that any more would result in the classic fit with throwing the controller across the room. Something I never want to see myself do, so I always stop when frustration starts to creep in. Everyone was still focused on me, something I was not used to when playing games, and I manage to force my way back outside with a couple of close calls. Once outside, I strategized a bit more and then found a way to put enough blocking material between me and the Berserker to hit her before she could crush me to smithereens. I hit her with the Hammer of Dawn, Everybody cheer, I smiled, the Berserker shook it off and charge me (of coarse it couldn't be that easy).

I manage to dodge but she was close and I was freaked. I ran hopelessly trying to get away and did with little trouble from her, soon finding another spot to hit her from, and this time I wasn't stopping until she was down. I hit her again and it took little more to fell her (oh that's right I just used fell for it's seldom used definition meaning to kill. Oh, that's right I just used seldom in a sentence showing off how weird I talk). Big cheers all around this time and I jumped out of my seat and screamed enough trash talk at the screen to get me kicked out of any sporting event. And then I realized I was shaking, I sat and felt my pulse, like I said, never has a video game baddie got my heart beating so fast.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Neopets makes me want to gamble!!!

I recently started playing around on Neopets again, partly because I was looking for a good selection of games for my nephew that didn't require a big download at the same time that my 360 and gaming pc went kaflooey so I too needed games that didn't require a big download to run on my netbook, and partly because nostalgia is rooted deep in my blood and given any opportunity to relive a childhood favorite, I jump at the chance.

When I started up my new account and got all the necessities squared away, I began reliving my routine that was engraved into my mind as a child, and then I realized something after playing Brucey B Slots for an hour straight. Okay, my routine included a lot of the following attractions, The Wheel of Excitement, Dace-A-Roo, Scratch Cards, etc. And here I am back and playing the same games over and over again and realizing now what I wasn't realizing as a child, I had a gambling problem, I can't tell you how many times I squandered ten-thousand Neopoints away. Even when my poor baby Neopet was sick and thought it was a chicken (an illness I got him by playing Wheel of Excitement by the by), I was gambling away my last few points rather that working hard and saving up to buy a cure.

A curious thing as I am as tight fisted with money as they come. I've never gambled in other games that I play either. I shoved in a few coins to get the jackpot achievement in Bioshock, (which according to some friends I got incredibly fast.) Anyway before I lose my thought here, I was pondering what it is exactly in Neopets that makes me want to gamble and try to get oodles of money? And then, Eureka was shouted, it's the only goal in the Neopets world, make money! Sure you can say that you want to level up you're Neopets and do quests and things but ultimately all that leads you to is more money. It's the goal of the game, to make as much money as possible.

After realizing this, I knew there were better ways of getting money then gambling and so I searched around and discovered just how time and effort people put into making money on this game. I mean, big time. All the hours upon hours people spend buying low and selling high to get the biggest bang for their buck. I basically came to the conclusion that it wasn't worth it, especially considering how bored I am with it already. Might as well do something in the real world that makes money if I'm going to put that much effort into it. I'm going back to mindlessly gambling away Neopoints on the game where the worst thing that happens is you pets contract hilarious diseases.



Thursday, August 5, 2010

365 Projects

There is nothing quite as interesting to me as doing something that challenges you. So, the idea of committing yourself to doing something everyday for a year is one that I love and encourage everyone to give a try at least once. I myself am in the middle of a 365 project where I have to take a picture everyday, fingers crossed that I make it through the year. I already missed one day and am committing myself to making a graphic design of some kind for each day I miss. But, if photography isn't your thing there are a lot of other options. Do you draw? Do a sketch a day. Read? Read a certain amount a day. Write? Write a short story a day or a poem. Video? Shoot a video a day (impossible you say, my dad did it, also check out the vlogbrothers ). Music? Write or learn a new song a day. Sports? Doing something sports related a day (I'm not good with sports, sorry). Game? Check out this article.

Monday, July 26, 2010

New discoveries!

It's been a while since I've been able to randomly search the Internet the way I'm doing today. I'm enjoying it far too much and should probably go do something else a bit more productive for a while but for now, I am posting some of my new discoveries. Yay!

New discovery number 1!

Geek in Heels

Being a girl geek myself, I was most excited about finding this blog. I haven't gotten very far into it yet but of what I've seen, I like it. Plus it's always nice to find another girl who not only geeks out but does it in style. I have to say that it is one of my favorites right off the bat because it led me to my second discovery of the day! Woohoo!

New discovery #2

Not Tetris (Or as I like to call it Notris)

The old stiff blocks have been updated by shiny new (okay, graphically, they are the same) physic enhanced blocks. That's right, instead of being confined to tight lines and 90 degree turns, these babies will flop, bounce, and frustrate you to no end. Sound is a little buggy for me but you always have the lovely mute option.

New discovery nĂºmero tres

Billy Bob 884 Papercrafts

This stuff is amazing and I can't get enough of it. I have been wanting to start on some paper crafts for awhile and this just motivates me to get it started so I can start doing stuff like this. I can't put into words how awesome I think this stuff is so instead I post pictures, I've heard they are supposed to be equivalent to words somehow.





































Bonus Xbox 360 case mod.

Found this on instructables. It's actually a DIY for installing cold cathode lighting but the example pic had the extra bonus of the faithful companion cube. By the by my speed run record for Portal on the 360 is 30 min.


Wednesday, July 21, 2010

First Anti Twilight Post

I'm not going to get hot and heavy into this topic, ever. It's not worth my breath, I know I'm not changing the mind of any Twilight fans out there so these posts are going to be more an occasional funny thing I find on the Internet for my follow Twilight haters.

This article is one of the greatest, most disturbing and oddly enough entertaining examples of how crazy Twilight fangirls can get. It makes me proud not to be one of them.

I know this isn't exactly game centric, but Modern Warfare 2 is mentioned in the article. Points for that, right?

Monday, July 19, 2010

Gadget Sin

As I was on the hunt for Xbox 360 case mods I discovered my new favorite site, Gadget Sin. Now that I've had time to look around I present the five coolest things I found on Gadget Sin. No Q&A this time.

#5 - Yellow Submarine Tea Bag (makes me wish I drank tea more often)



#4 - Shark Fin Ice Cube Tray (cool ice cube trays are everywhere, but these are officially the coolest)


#3 - Steampunk Wizard of Oz Miniatures (as a long time collector of miniatures, I must say...WOW)


#2 - Halo Elite Costume (first time I've gotten to see pics of this thing. Amazing)


#1 - Hello Kitty Chainsaw (most epic chainsaw of all time)

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Top Eight: Xbox 360 Case Mods

Okay, before we get into the list, let's do a quick Q&A. I, pretending to be you, will ask me, really being me, a few questions.

Q1: Why eight?

A1: Cause that's how many I found.

Q2: Did you use any Guidelines?

A2: Sorta, I didn't add the laptop mods because I had intended on posting only those that kept the integrity of the original case, but then I found a mod I really, really liked that looked nothing like a 360 so there went that plan. The laptop remain unlisted though, I still like them.

Q3: Is there any mods you like that aren't included in this list for some strange reason?

A3: Yes, in fact there are and you are very smart for thinking to ask me that. There are a ton of case mods out there and I liked far more than what I'm posting today but I had to call it quits at some point.

Q4: Could you provide some links to those at the end of the list?

A4: Why yes I can.

Q5: Is there a reason why you didn't go through those others you liked and pick out two more for this list so you could have a top ten like a normal person.

A5: Some I didn't feel fit my guidelines, some weren't over the top enough for me, some were too over the top for me and some were just too redundant, there are far too many Halo and Gears of War mods out there so instead of having a list riddled with them I just chose my favorite of each.

Q6: Do you do any case modding?

A6: No, I've toyed with the idea of painting my faceplate on my 360 but that's as far as I'll ever go with it I think. I don't have the skill, patience or know-how to really do a top rate case mod. Plus adding those extra layers of insulation can cause you console to overheat.

Q7: Will you be doing mods lists for other consoles as well?

A7: Yes, I've already begun looking around and picking out my favorites for many other consoles.

Q8: I'm actually out of questions, but I thought it would be neat to have as many questions as mods listed so.....um...What video game are you playing right now?

A8: You're right, that is kinda neat. I'm in the middle of Mass Effect right now and have Fallout 3 waiting on me after I'm done with that.


Okay, enough of that. Here's the list:



#8 - Joker Case Mod

Modder: Carl Butler

This is an almost there mod and makes a fine example of less is more. While having some great detail work the Joker head and the mismatching batman logo window at the top pushed it a bit too far for my tastes but there is enough good stuff here for it to have a place in the top eight.

Source

#7 - Half-Life 2 Case Mod

Modder: PinPoint

Okay, I'll be perfectly honest here, this might have not made the list had in not been for the fact that I am a huge Half-Life fangirl and will remain so until I am a wrinkled old lady. Love this mod and wish I had one. Plus orange is my favorite color.

Source











#6 - WWII Case Mod

Modder: Jwalestrom


This mod, as stated by the creator, looks “as if the beleaguered 360 just barely made it’s way out of a minefield.”It's easy to tell a lot of love went into this one and while it's not as flashy as some it still has a place in the top eight for me.

Source


#5 - Gears of War Case Mod

Modder: DFW Monkie

Being one of the biggest selling games on the 360 there was no doubt that there would be plenty of mods for GoW and while many are nice, this one is amazing. With an extraordinary amount of sculpting and detail work, it had no trouble making it into the top eight.

Source



# 4 - Transformers All Spark Case M......New Case Entirely

Modder: givintats

The one that broke the rules. I feel this is the "mod" that just doesn't get enough love. I've looked at many top (insert number here) lists for Xbox 360 case mods and this one wasn't included in a majority of them. Found through Google images, this one had to be in my top eight.

Source



#3 - Alligator Skin Case Mod

Modder: DFW Monkie

The second of Monkie's works. This is the one that inspired me to do this list in the first place and I still can't get over how awesome it is. I love it, love it, love it. Enough said.


Source




#2 - Halo Case Mod

Modder: Richard Taylor

There is just too many Halo mods to deal with, and I was so close to making this list without any of them until I found this one. Perhaps a bit over the top, I still gotta say that this is pretty incredible and I also have to say that I have been tempted to shoot my 360 in a similar fashion before. Stupid red ring.

Source

#1 - Steampunk Case Mod

Modder: Dopelgunder

This mod is just so over the top that I couldn't help but include it in the list and then it grew on me so much that it climbed all the way up to number 1. I love the detail and while steampunk hasn't always been my first choice, I have fallen in love with the look.

Source



Honorable mentions: those that didn't make the cut for whatever random reason I came up with at the time.

Tissue Mod

Car Mod
Blood Splattered Mod
Gears of War Mod
RockStar Mod
Halo Mod
Another Halo Mod
Hellboy Mod
Laptop Mod
Sonic Mod

Or pretty much any one from this collection.

Another fun one to look at is the Xbox 720 designed by Tai Chiem.

Friday, July 16, 2010

1000 Blank White Cards

Haven't yet played this game but it looks amazingly fun. My brother said be careful who you play with though. You'd be surprised how dirty some people's minds can get.

1000 Blank White Cards

Thursday, July 15, 2010

osu!

This game is freaking awesome, and I'm not really sure why. This is a relatively new discovery for me and I find it to be easily as addictive as Guitar Hero (by the by if you are a fan of Guitar Hero, check out Frets on Fire. It's free! I'll post more on it later). osu! is a rhythm game you operate with a series on click, drag and spin motions on the mouse. There is a very impressive online community and a huge database of songs to download. Oddly addicting and the perfect game to give a fresh batch of carpal tunnel.


The PC version is completely free. A DS version called Elite Beat Agents if also available, though not nearly as good as on the PC due to limited track lists and needless cut scenes. A version for the Iphone is supposed to reach the Apple App store soon, more info here.


Link to osu!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Crafts!

I am falling in love with crafting as of late and have had particular focus on game crafting. As I make new and fantabulous creations, I will post them along with instructions. Unfortunately, the first couple I will be posting (coming soon!!!) are without any pictures other than the finished product but I will be better in the future and try to make the instructions as helpful as possible.

Alongside crafting, I also enjoy looking at other people's crafts. Some of my new favorite sites are:

http://www.spritestitch.com/

This was a site created solely to fill the video game crafting gap. According to the site there were “only video game blogs that posted about crafts and craft blogs that occasionally posted about video games. After seeing a need for a blog dedicated to all areas of video game crafting, Sprite Stitch was born.” There are a ton of posts on all different kinds of video game themed crafts, and while there was an indeed focus on cross-stitching before, now there are all different types of crafting styles.

http://www.geekcrafts.com/

This one isn't quite as focused on video games as Sprite Stitch, it in fact has a variety of geeky crafts. From video games, movies and TV. I love looking through it and they are always looking and adding new content and often seem to have theme weeks and other neat things to look into such as the top ten NES controller crafts.

http://www.instructables.com/

Instructables is a huge DIY site containing many, many, many crafts from simple paper crafts to large time consuming tech nightmare crafts. While not having focus on either video games or geeky stuff in general, there is no doubt that it is absolutely littered with great craft ideas from all walks of life. Also it is a site designed not only to show off great crafts but to show you how they are made. Love it!

As of now I do not have a website I go to for board game crafts specifically. I have seen some great crafts made in that style, in fact the sites above even contain some of them but I have yet to find a site that focuses of board games the same way Sprite Stitch focuses on video games. If you know of one please email me and I will be happy to post it.

One site I am happy to post is:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/

While not themed towards crafts I felt the need to post it here anyways because of the shear joy I get from browsing it. There is a lot of fun info on games no one ever heard of as well as a bazaar section which offers many ways to obtain these games and you can also find many user submitted games that can to downloaded for free on the site such as Zombie Plague add ons (Original Zombie Plague game link: http://www.fortressfigures.com/zombieplague/ More to come on that later).


Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Here goes nothing

If there is one thing that I love, it is gaming. Whether it's of the board or video persausion, I just plain enjoy it. I enjoy the hunting for that hidden gem lost in all of the endless streams of samey action-shooters, and I enjoy the playing of the samey action-shooters where all I have to do is pickup the controller and you know exactly how to play. I enjoy getting a group of friends around and playing a game of Fluxx or Zombie Plague (if you are not aware of either of these game, I beg of you to look them up, also I'm likely to post more about them later in the life of this blog), I even enjoy the occasional RPG (the game genre, not the weapon.....though the weapon can be fun too).

So, as you can see, I like games, so I thought: Hey, why not make a blog about them. And since you are here reading this maybe I made the right choice. And if you are here reading this, please tell your friends and maybe follow and email me things to blog about and continue to read my blog and be my best friend forever............I should stop now.

More to come!