Endless Road

I finally have time to update...

2008-05-15T12:02:00.003-05:00

... after the busiest semester of my life, yet I don't have much to talk about. I can't seem to take this song off of loop in my Winamp, though, so I guess that's something. :) I got my hands on a copy of Final Fantasy V and VI (the PS1 pack), as well as Final Fantasy IX earlier last month, so it's been nice to finally be able to play some of these classics. I have to admit, FFVI is just as awesome as everyone says it is. Of course, I'd be further in it if I still wasn't so addicted to Team Fortress 2. :P

Crisis Fortress

2008-04-05T14:03:00.002-05:00

Lately, I've been playing 2 games: Team Fortress 2 and Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. CC has a fun battle system, but unfortunately the game is a little too easy. You can become overpowered really early on in the game, and there really isn't anything much outside of the battles to do. However, the story is quite interesting, and is definitely one of the game's strong points. I've also been playing Team Fortress 2 for the past few weeks, and I have to say, it's quite addicting. I don't normally like first person shooters, let alone online ones, but this game is just so well-made I can't help but love it. Unlike most FPS's, this game has a class system, which is extremely well-balanced, and provides the most varied amount of gameplay in any FPS I've ever seen. It's been hard for me to pull myself away from this game, actually. It's been years since I've been able to play a game for hours on end and still not get tired of it.

End of an Era

2008-03-17T18:15:00.002-05:00

I was sad to see the GameShark forums cut down and most of the staff (including myself) get axed. After going there for nearly 4 years, it feels weird to need to find a new hangout. I'll probably spend my time at the OC ReMix forums now. Everyone's kind of scattered at this point, but I hope all of the members find new communities that interest them if they're leaving.

About time for an update, don't you think?

2008-02-10T12:28:00.000-06:00

It's been a busy semester for me. Lots of outside of class work to do every week. I haven't had quite as much time for gaming, but at the moment there isn't much new that I'd like to play. These days, most games are first-person shooters, a genre I'm not particularly fond of. I've liked RPG's since Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, but unfortunately there aren't too many RPG's these days, let alone good ones. The world of gaming has changed a lot since the early 90's when I first started gaming. The Super NES was simply awesome and had a fantastic mix of games, and the days of the PS1 was the golden age of RPG's. Squaresoft released a bunch of RPG's for the PS1 that people still consider to be some of the best, such as Final Fantasy VII and Xenogears. These days though, people seem more interested in calling each other noobs on Halo. I feel sorry for this new generation of gamers, as it seems like expectations for game quality have sunk quite a bit. I'm still holding out hope that Square Enix will revive the RPG genre and restore it to it's former glory, but it's hard to be optimistic about it.

Do they even try anymore?

2008-01-09T13:43:00.000-06:00

It seems like whenever a corporation is clearly doing something unethical, they don't even try to hide it anymore. Instead, they release press releases with a bunch of colorful phrases trying to paint the situation in a way that's actually good for the consumer, hoping that everyone is too stupid to see it for what it is. Case in point: Network Solutions' press release regarding their front running. Comcast's BitTorrent blocking is another prime example. And the FCC is JUST NOW looking into that, even though it's clearly been going on for months. What is this country coming to?

Well, the board's offline... :(

2007-12-24T13:56:00.000-06:00

Just like last year, the GameShark Forums have been closed for Christmas. Merry Christmas and have a happy new year!

Farewell, Reuben Kee.

2007-11-29T14:14:00.000-06:00

I've been going to OC ReMix for about 2 years now, so I've heard work from several artists. Reuben Kee was certainly one of the most talented, so I was sad to hear that he died last Friday. I encourage everyone to check out his music.

Please don't suck.

2007-11-06T21:54:00.000-06:00

Earlier today I heard about a game for the PSP called Dissidia: Final Fantasy. It's a fighting game with Final Fantasy characters to celebrate 20 years of Final Fantasy. There are characters from all over the Final Fantasy universe, and... Well, just take a look for yourself. :)

I just hope it's better than a lot of the stuff Square-Enix has released since the merger. *coughfinalfantasyXIIcough*

Star Wars TV Series on the Horizon

2007-10-19T16:53:00.000-05:00

George Lucas Confirms Star Wars TV Series

Even 30 years later, there's always something new going on with Star Wars. George Lucas is now planning a live-action Star Wars TV series, which I'm already dreading. The series has probably been milked a little too much over the years. Admittingly, the Clone Wars animated series was very popular, and from what I saw of it I thought was pretty good, but I still can't say I have high hopes for this new TV series. I know I'll be watching it as soon as it premieres, though.

Albatross18 Season 3 Released

2007-10-06T01:03:00.000-05:00

Albatross18

The full release is finally out, and it's everything I had hoped for. Pretty sleek new interface, new course and character, new types of shots... Lots of good stuff so far. If you've never played Albatross18 before, now's the time to start. :)

Linux Driver Project on the Move

2007-09-28T14:50:00.000-05:00

Novell has restarted the Linux Driver Project, and I'm feeling pretty optimistic about it. One of Linux's greatest weaknesses is it's lack of driver support, so this is certainly good news. I just hope we can finally get some good wireless drivers for Linux soon, since that's probably it's biggest problem right now.

Final Fantasy VII Remix Project Released!

2007-09-14T13:00:00.000-05:00

Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream

I've been waiting a long time for this, so I'm glad it's finally out. Final Fantasy VII is still my all-time favorite game, and I know this remix project will do it justice. A lot of my favorite remixers are on the project, so I'm really looking forward to listening to it.

Albatross18 Season 3 Teaser Site Up

2007-09-06T15:03:00.000-05:00

Season 3

The release of Albatross18 Season 3 is on the horizon. I've been waiting for this for a long time, and it looks great.

Been a while...

2007-08-20T19:56:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, there's nothing in particular that I'm outraged about to post today. The semester has started, so it's back to the grind for me. I joined my college's anime club, and they got me hooked on a new little gem called Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (So Long, Mr. Despair). I typically don't like anime comedies because a lot of the humor is lost on audiences outside of Japan, but this one's humor has been pretty universal. I find it hilarious, but maybe it's something that only a geek can truly understand and enjoy. Either way, I'm looking forward to being left in despair later this week.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

2007-07-15T02:28:00.000-05:00

This game looks absolutely amazing. I might need to get an Xbox360.

It's Prime Time!

2007-06-27T13:24:00.000-05:00

This speed run of Metroid Prime completely blew my mind. That glitch that allows you to extend your jumps while scanning an object allows this guy to get the Space Jump upgrade right at the beginning of the game, before ANY other upgrade. From then on, he skips a bunch of bosses, and doesn't even need to get some of the upgrades that are typically vital to beating the game if you're playing normally. Hell, he didn't even get the Gravity Suit. Pretty awesome speed run, he beats the game in 1:07.

Rumble Fighter Second Beta Released

2007-06-06T13:46:00.000-05:00

Rumble Fighter Download Page

I've really been looking forward to this. I saw a lot of potential in this game right from the first beta, and I'm really looking forward to the final release. They've still got a lot of work to do with their PVP system, though... The game still doesn't synch up quite right most of the time and everyone gets bounced back to the game room. Some of it's probably being caused by people using the old client, but it just doesn't seem to handle slower connections very well. Once they've worked this all out, though, the game is really going to be great.

U.S. Navy to Create Manga to Explain Itself to Japan

2007-05-24T19:21:00.000-05:00

I can't even begin to imagine the amount of humor this will bring to me. In general, I think the military might be starting to overuse the media a bit. I haven't had much of a problem with it until recently because of one of their newest commercials. Two kids are playing a military based game, and the soldier they're playing as taps the screen and says "Hey, looks like you're really into this. Want to take it to the next level?" To me, that's pretty twisted propaganda.

Microsoft has no immediate plans to sue over Linux patents.

2007-05-22T14:26:00.000-05:00

Microsoft has released a statement saying that it doesn't have any immediate plans to sue over the patents it claims that Linux is infringing on. This whole thing sounds like a big scare tactic to me, though it's not the first time they've played dirty. The way they abuse the market and underhandedly sideswipe their competition is all the more reason for this monopoly to be broken up by the government.

Microsoft vs. Free Software

2007-05-15T16:45:00.000-05:00

Microsoft takes on the free world.

Microsoft claims that free software infringes on 235 of their patents, particularly in the case of Linux. They haven't announced what the patents are, probably because they're satisfied with tarnishing the open-source community's name, as Linus Torvalds (creator of the Linux kernel) mentions in his response to Microsoft:

""It's certainly a lot more likely that Microsoft violates patents than Linux does," said Torvalds, holder of the Linux trademark. If the source code for Windows could be subjected to the same critical review that Linux has been, Microsoft would find itself in violation of patents held by other companies, said Torvalds.

Microsoft would prefer not to actually sue anyone, particularly a Linux user who's also a Microsoft customer. "They'd have to name the patents then, and they're probably happier with the FUD [fear, uncertainty, doubt] than with any lawsuit," Torvalds predicted."

Dell to Offer Ubuntu PC's

2007-05-06T21:00:00.000-05:00

A Step Up for Microsoft Rival

I am pleased by this. =D Linux had to start going mainstream sometime, and I'm glad they chose Ubuntu. It's my favorite Linux distribution, and one of the most popular around. It's great if you're running a machine that also has Windows on it, since Ubuntu can access your files on your Windows partition.

Ubuntu Website

Rumble Fighter Beta Released

2007-04-17T13:21:00.000-05:00

Rumble Fighter

I've really been looking forward to this. OG Planet, the makers of Albatross18, knows how to make a good game, and so far Rumble Fighter isn't an exception (as far as betas go). It's pretty buggy and the server has to keep being brought down for bug fixing, but once the game leaves beta I know it's going to be great.

A change in history lessons...

2007-04-02T16:04:00.000-05:00

Teachers drop the Holocaust to avoid offending Muslims.

The things people do for political correctness... XD

Yet more abuse of the DMCA...

2007-03-21T22:02:00.000-05:00

NFL abuses the DMCA, and picks a fight with the wrong person.

The way copyright holders exaggerate their rights is downright disgusting. It's bad enough that the DMCA needs some massive reform without copyright holders flat-out ignoring the parts that protect people.

Video Games Improve Vision?

2007-03-06T11:10:00.000-06:00

Action games improve vision by 20%.

I must be playing too many RPG's, because I still need glasses. =P

The New Face of Star Control II

2007-02-23T16:42:00.000-06:00

The Ur-Quan Masters

Originally a game released for the 3DO (and had a PC version) in 1992, Star Control II was released to the open-source community in 2002 and thus The Ur-Quan Masters was born. I've played through the game, and it's something that I've really enjoyed. The game is complex, but also has a pretty high degree of humor. The game can be pretty hard for first timers, though, so the official Wiki comes in handy. It's a lot like a player's guide:

Official Ur-Quan Masters Wiki

A couple of P2P related articles I found...

2007-02-13T13:18:00.000-06:00

Joost: The next generation of TV?

Study shows that P2P's effects on music sales are less than 1%.

Nice to see that assumption that P2P is killing the music industry blown out of the water. P2P has gotten a bad reputation because of the false accusations from the RIAA. Perhaps Joost could show just what P2P is truly capable of... I'd certainly like to try it once it leaves the private beta.

LOL and Order

2007-02-05T11:12:00.000-06:00

The way some people abuse the judicial system is absolutely disgusting.

Jack Thompson Faces Florida Supreme Court Disciplinary Hearing

"Electric Slide" on Slippery DMCA Slope

I'm so tired of hearing about this kind of crap. Too many people are abusing the system for their own ends. Clearly, neither one of these people have an ounce of respect for others, and Thompson's comments vividly indicate this.

And why the hell would anyone use the DMCA to "protect their rights" for a dance? This is just childish.

Hang on to Windows XP...

2007-01-29T12:07:00.000-06:00

Vista "upgrade" drops compliance checking, requires old OS to install.

"Upgrade versions of Windows Vista Home Basic, Premium, and Starter Edition will not install on any PC unless Windows XP or Windows 2000 is already on the machine in question."

Is Microsoft trying to make their competitors look good? Once again, they're alienating the PC user community.

Microsoft Keeps Windows Kernel Private

2007-01-26T13:12:00.000-06:00

Not-So-Secret Negotiations of the Anti-Spyware Firms

This is a very short-sighted move on Microsoft's part. They're not just alienating the anti-spyware companies, but the PC user community as a whole.

Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII

2007-01-23T14:14:00.000-06:00

There have been several good Final Fantasy games since FFVII, but none of the ones I've played have ever been as good. As such, I've been waiting for the next FFVII. I was kind of disappointed with FFXII, but the trailers for FFXIII and FF Versus XIII have been pretty promising so far. I have to admit, Square Enix really knows how to make flashy trailers. :) Here's the trailers from E3 2006, and if you want to download them then just head on over to GameTrailers.com.

Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy Versus XIII

Edit: Hmm, the FFXIII trailer doesn't seem to be working at the moment... With any luck, GameTrailers will have the embedded version fixed soon. It works just fine at the GameTrailers site, though.

Major Cancer Breakthrough

2007-01-19T14:06:00.000-06:00

Cheap, Safe Drug Kills Most Cancers

First a major diabetes breakthrough, and now this? I just hope it all becomes publicly available soon.

Major Increase in Firefox's Popularity

2007-01-09T15:37:00.000-06:00

Firefox Big in 2006

Times are really changing... Seems like Microsoft's hold over the computer industry is starting to be weakened all over the place. Finally, some competition... Microsoft had grown way too big. The government should of broken up the monopoly a long time ago, but apparently the rich are exempt from any laws.

BitTornado Bans All BitComet Users

2007-01-07T15:03:00.000-06:00

BitTornado Bans All BitComet Users

BitComet is one of the programs I'd like to see off of download.com's most downloaded software. Knight Online is another one. I've tried KO, and it was decent at best for the 3 days I was able to play it. After 3 days, I was pretty much unable to log in again, because people playing on a free account can only log in during "peak hours." Apparently, there are 23 "peak hours" during the day, the only time I could log in again was at 11:30 at night or something. One of the other big problems were all the cheaters. They're not that hard to find, they're only around every damn corner and make it impossible to do some quests. Their lazy-ass mods don't even do anything about them, and tech support is almost non-existent. To top it all off, the Better Business Bureau gives the K2 Network , the company that currently owns KO, an F rating. But every week, KO stays at the top of the most downloaded games list on download.com. Come on, people, quit downloading these poorly made and/or shady programs and use the more reliable alternatives. Instead of BitComet, use BitTornado or Azureus (my personal favorite). Instead of KO, try Conquer Online. There's lots of other alternatives out there, just stop supporting the behavior of the companies who have gone bad. They're never going to change if you keep supporting them regardless of what they do, all the F ratings from the BBB in the world won't mean a damn thing to them if they still get what they want anyway.

Vista Content Protection

2006-12-28T00:11:00.000-06:00

Vista Crippled by Content Protection

I knew all of this DRM stuff was going to get out of hand. It's gotten to the point where it's degrading quality now. I can't begin to imagine how Microsoft thought this would be a smart move, it's just going to make more of it's customers switch to Linux and Mac. Preferably Linux. :P

Scientists Cure Mice of Diabetes Overnight

2006-12-15T16:28:00.000-06:00

Diabetes Breakthrough

This is a pretty amazing medical breakthrough. Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical companies probably won't like this as it would kill their insulin sales, and delay the release of any cure for 10-15 years. It's gotten too easy for interest groups to buy Congress.

NASA Plans to Return to the Moon... And Stay There

2006-12-05T14:33:00.000-06:00

NASA plans to set up a camp on the moon.

This sounds great to me, I've been wishing that more space exploration would be done. Things are becoming a real mess here, mankind will probably have to leave this world at some point, anyway. It's too bad the government hasn't taken a greater interest in space exploration. Who knows what awaits us out there? I'd sure like to find out.

Another Step Towards the Fall of DRM

2006-11-28T10:45:00.000-06:00

DVD Jon Eyes 'Pod

I'm surprised DRM has ever been considered legal in the first place. It's in direct violation of fair use laws, after all. After paying for something, users should be able to do whatever they want with it (besides distribute copies of it for free, of course). There were already laws in place that said people couldn't distribute copyrighted material for free, DRM and the laws supporting it only hurt legitimate users.

Project Chaos

2006-11-21T11:09:00.000-06:00

A new remix project has been released on OC ReMix, this time for Sonic 3 and Knuckles. This one's pretty good, so be sure to give it a listen:

Project Chaos

Possible (Though Unlikely) Return of the Draft

2006-11-20T11:45:00.000-06:00

Rep. Rangel will seek to reinstate draft.

A lot of holes in his argument. For one, a draft won't discourage presidents from going to war. If they want to go to war, they'll find a way. And where did he come up with this argument that not having a draft puts the burden on minorities and the poor? Middle-class and upper middle-class people have more ways to get out of a draft, such as college deferments. If anything, it's HAVING a draft that puts the burden on the poor and minorities.

Another Sony Shortage...

2006-11-14T15:55:00.000-06:00

GameStop doesn't have enough PS3's to fill pre-orders.

This came as quite a surprise to me. After the PS2 shortage fiasco, you'd think Sony would of done more to keep it from happening again. Still, when something is that popular, I guess it's not really possible to ever release enough immediately, but getting less than 8 to each GameStop is pretty poor.

A Treatment for Blindness?

2006-11-08T18:19:00.000-06:00

Cell Transplants 'Restore Sight'

Science can do some pretty amazing stuff these days.

Last Century of Wild Fish?

2006-11-03T01:52:00.000-06:00

'Only 50 years left' for sea fish

Over-using the planet's resources is catching up with us sooner than most people think.

Well, now I'm an online gamer.

2006-10-28T13:39:00.000-05:00

Albatross18 Season Two

Since online gaming is so popular these days, I decided to try my hand at it. I decided to start with Albatross18, and I seem to be addicted to it now. It plays almost exactly like Mario Golf 64, a game that completely took me by surprise because I didn't think I'd ever like a golf game. Albatross18 is set in a fantasy world with anime-like characters, and has quite a few interesting elements. For example, you can buy potions that will help you during your games. Overall, Albatross18 is a lot of fun, so be sure to look me up if you try it... My username there is Citan.

Firefox 2.0 Released

2006-10-25T19:42:00.000-05:00

Firefox 2.0

I've been waiting for this... I'm always up for a new version of Firefox. It just keeps getting better and better. =D

Who Doesn't Like Mario?

2006-10-24T11:24:00.000-05:00

Mario Forever

This is a really fun freeware game, and definately the most professional level freeware game I've ever played. It took a little while for me to get used to playing Mario on my keyboard, but once I did I found the game to be a blast. I should also note that the game comes with a browser toolbar that you have to install with the game, but after you've installed the game you can uninstall the toolbar immediately and keep the game. Even if you don't want the toolbar, that's really not much of a price to pay for a game as well-made as this.

End of the Battle for Baghdad

2006-10-22T02:26:00.000-05:00

US Troops Pulling Out of Iraq

I guess this was coming for a long time. The Middle East has been fighting forever, so there wasn't much hope to begin with to get them to stop, let alone bring democracy to that region. There's just no end to the bloodlust in site.

Torture Now Legal?

2006-10-19T11:33:00.000-05:00

New bill signed into law.

The government has taken another huge chunk of power... They don't even need any hard evidence to detain someone anymore. Everyone Bush and the CIA say in this article sounds fishy, especially since they won't reveal the techniques. So basically, they can take anyone they suspect of being a terrorist to an undisclosed location, and use secret methods to force information out of people... This isn't American at all. And Bush keeps using 9/11 and patriotic statements as a way to cover up his motives and make everyone thinks that what he's doing is okay.

Do a Barrel Roll!

2006-10-18T11:56:00.000-05:00

There's a contest going on at the Transformers movie website where users are voting on what line they want to hear Optimus Prime say. Surprisingly, "Do a barrel roll!" (from Starfox 64) is winning by a staggering majority. I think it would be hilarious if they actually put it in the movie, so it should be interesting to see where this leads. There are many people on the board for the official site that are strongly against putting it in the movie, or even having it on the list. Tensions are really running high about it, and all I have to say is: LOL. It's amazing how bent out of shape people can get on the Internet, especially since this is just one line that wouldn't even be hard to incorporate (some Transformers can turn into jets, after all). What's even funnier is that half the people complaining are just spoil sports saying "Mine was way better, they should of used it! I put so much thought into it... *sniff* :(" After reading all of that self-righteous crap, I wanted to vote for "Do a barrel roll!" just because everyone is being such a crybaby about the contest. Oddly, only users who submitted a line when submissions were being taken can vote... So it doesn't look like the number 1 spot is going to change, anyway.

Mozilla Taking Firefox 3 Requests

2006-10-13T11:22:00.000-05:00

Firefox/Feature Brainstorming

They may as well just make all of the top 10 extensions a part of Firefox, since many of them have been on the list for a long time. The FlashGot extension has been #1 for as long as I can remember, and it would make sense to add the feature. I'm not sure why Mozilla itself hasn't done anything about download manager compatibility yet, but I just use the DownThemAll! extension. It works great, and doesn't require me to have an external download manager.

What if presidents could serve more than 2 terms?

2006-10-09T15:35:00.000-05:00

Possible repeal of the 22nd amendment?

The idea sounded kind of odd to me at first, but the Congressmen supporting the bill have some good points. It doesn't really make sense to put a term limit on the president, especially since there aren't any term limits on senators and representatives. If the people want to keep re-electing someone, it doesn't seem very democratic to deny them at all. It wasn't even originally a part of the founders' idea of how the executive branch should be set up, it was simply a tradition started by George Washington. Even without the term limit, it's highly unlikely a president would be elected for life. Power is always being passed between the Democrats and the Republicans because no party can hold power forever. Unpopular policies or scandals always drives one of the parties out of power at some point, the other party takes power, and then the process repeats itself. Removing the term limit on the presidency would allow the country to stay with a stable administration longer. If a party is unpopular, it will just be voted out of office like always.

Here's a fun game...

2006-10-07T22:45:00.000-05:00

Scorched3D

I found this little freeware gem while browsing download.com. The goal is to be the last tank standing. It's pretty difficult to get the hang of the game, but once you do it's pretty fun, and can be really funny at times. Seeing the computer tanks fight amongst themselves saying things like "Everyone against me? I'll kill you all!" and "I'll blow your brain out, it's not like you ever used it anyway." made me chuckle.

EDIT: BTW, new posts might not show up until you refresh the page. It's a weird little thing Blogger does.

Problems for the PS3 launch?

2006-10-05T12:08:00.000-05:00

GameStop Manager: "There is no way the PS3 launch is going to go well."

Pretty strange that Sony doesn't seem all that prepared for the PS3 launch, considering how many Sony fans there are and how much money is going into the PS3. I'm still really looking forward to the PS3, though.

Welcome (Back) To My Blog

2006-10-04T19:32:00.000-05:00

For those of you who were familiar with my last blog, welcome back. For newcomers, sit back and make yourselves at home. Blogging seemed like a good way to spend my spare time on the Internet, so I decided to pick up the hobby again.

Check this out:

Super Mario 64 speed run done with only 16 stars.

Amazing what a lot of practice and glitches can do for you.