Thank you Japan
Friday, June 17, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Where does the time go?
Event season has kicked off and holy moly time sure does fly! One minute its just barely spring and the next I have events back to back! I will try and make a bigger effort to post in the blog about whats going on and of course all the cool links I find.
Every night seems to be filled with something and tonight is no exception! I have to make a short (under 3 minutes) "about me" video to post to the internet. I consider it like an interview with me before you actually meet me. A pre-interview? Its for a top secret project (really I have no idea what its for!) that Yvonna at Charisma Plus 2 has snagged for us. Its kind of exciting submitting for a super secret something. Makes you feel cool that you got invited to do it!
Forgot my phone today (ack)!
Every night seems to be filled with something and tonight is no exception! I have to make a short (under 3 minutes) "about me" video to post to the internet. I consider it like an interview with me before you actually meet me. A pre-interview? Its for a top secret project (really I have no idea what its for!) that Yvonna at Charisma Plus 2 has snagged for us. Its kind of exciting submitting for a super secret something. Makes you feel cool that you got invited to do it!
Forgot my phone today (ack)!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Sims Medieval Review Redux
I got quite a bit of feed back after my first review. I promised that if my opinion changed I would put up a new review for all to see...and holy moly did I change my mind!
After my initial disappointment I put the game down for a few days. When I finally got a break from my hectic week I decided it was time to give Sims another go. I decided the best course of action was to start a new game (aka a whole new village). Right away I got to make my own custom Sim monarch. I didn't get to do this in my initial game. I knew right away one of the big things I hadn't realized; this Sims starts you off in a "tutorial" village. Although they don't tell you this the whole first game you select is one big long tutorial. Right away everything that didn't make sense as to why I couldn't do this or that became clear. The tutorial has a much more linear game for you to play so you can learn the basics. That being said the tutorial game itself really isn't all that helpful. For some things yes, but it doesn't show you other things in a very clear way.
For example, you get to play as several different classes of Heros (the monarch, the wizard, the medic, the tavern keeper, ect) but the game doesn't tell you how to access these characters in the beginning. It forces you to only play as the Monarch so you can follow one track. Although you can place the buildings for the other heros you don't get access to their quests.
All the quests you have available are in one quest tree. You pick one then get several options on how you want the story to unfold. So for example I picked a quest where I had to find a legendary lobster (yea a lobster) and I had 3 options on how I wanted to go about finding him. As a main character I could pick the monarch, the medic, and the knight (who I don't have yet). I decided my poor medic needed some experience (each hero gains experience points to get better locations for themselves) so I followed his story tree. The monarch in this situation adds a second story line to go along with this quest.
As you gain more Kingdom Points (which you gain from quests) you as the monarch can place new buildings for your town. Once you place one you get to make the main character who resides there. So when you place the barracks you get to make a custom Sim who acts as your warlord/knight for the village you are creating.
The best way I can figure how to sum up the game play is you take Fable and smash it together with The Sims. Its a semi-linear Sims game which is a refreshing break from the super sand box that The Sims normally is. You still get some of the classic Sim features like decorating your buildings, although you don't get to create the base footprints for them. So you start with a small castle, then you get to add on to it when you buy the feast hall with your points. The Wizard Tower is a 3 story building while the Hospital is one longer story building.
Medieval runs on the Sims 3 engine and if you have played Sims 3 you will recognize certain features like the ambitions (what you Sim wants to do each day) and if you accomplish these you get mood boosting points which help you complete quests better. You can go on adventures, hunt wild bears, feed the pit beast in your town, explore caves, sail the seas, host parties, send messages by carrier pigeon, and sword fight to your hearts content! While your sim still has the hunger and energy bar of previous games, gone and hygiene and need to use the bathroom constantly.
After this restart I now have to say I am in LOVE with this game. I have to be careful though because like other Sims once you start playing all of the sudden hours have mysteriously vanished and you wonder what happened to them. If your a reenactment nerd like me (Hurray SCA!) this game holds a special sort of place and I can see playing it a lot in the non-camping season of the year to fill that hole. However I think many people will find something to love about this game. Its different enough from any other in the Sims series you will feel like its something brand new. An excellent edition to your game collection and a new turn for The Sims series!
After my initial disappointment I put the game down for a few days. When I finally got a break from my hectic week I decided it was time to give Sims another go. I decided the best course of action was to start a new game (aka a whole new village). Right away I got to make my own custom Sim monarch. I didn't get to do this in my initial game. I knew right away one of the big things I hadn't realized; this Sims starts you off in a "tutorial" village. Although they don't tell you this the whole first game you select is one big long tutorial. Right away everything that didn't make sense as to why I couldn't do this or that became clear. The tutorial has a much more linear game for you to play so you can learn the basics. That being said the tutorial game itself really isn't all that helpful. For some things yes, but it doesn't show you other things in a very clear way.
For example, you get to play as several different classes of Heros (the monarch, the wizard, the medic, the tavern keeper, ect) but the game doesn't tell you how to access these characters in the beginning. It forces you to only play as the Monarch so you can follow one track. Although you can place the buildings for the other heros you don't get access to their quests.
All the quests you have available are in one quest tree. You pick one then get several options on how you want the story to unfold. So for example I picked a quest where I had to find a legendary lobster (yea a lobster) and I had 3 options on how I wanted to go about finding him. As a main character I could pick the monarch, the medic, and the knight (who I don't have yet). I decided my poor medic needed some experience (each hero gains experience points to get better locations for themselves) so I followed his story tree. The monarch in this situation adds a second story line to go along with this quest.
As you gain more Kingdom Points (which you gain from quests) you as the monarch can place new buildings for your town. Once you place one you get to make the main character who resides there. So when you place the barracks you get to make a custom Sim who acts as your warlord/knight for the village you are creating.
The best way I can figure how to sum up the game play is you take Fable and smash it together with The Sims. Its a semi-linear Sims game which is a refreshing break from the super sand box that The Sims normally is. You still get some of the classic Sim features like decorating your buildings, although you don't get to create the base footprints for them. So you start with a small castle, then you get to add on to it when you buy the feast hall with your points. The Wizard Tower is a 3 story building while the Hospital is one longer story building.
Medieval runs on the Sims 3 engine and if you have played Sims 3 you will recognize certain features like the ambitions (what you Sim wants to do each day) and if you accomplish these you get mood boosting points which help you complete quests better. You can go on adventures, hunt wild bears, feed the pit beast in your town, explore caves, sail the seas, host parties, send messages by carrier pigeon, and sword fight to your hearts content! While your sim still has the hunger and energy bar of previous games, gone and hygiene and need to use the bathroom constantly.
After this restart I now have to say I am in LOVE with this game. I have to be careful though because like other Sims once you start playing all of the sudden hours have mysteriously vanished and you wonder what happened to them. If your a reenactment nerd like me (Hurray SCA!) this game holds a special sort of place and I can see playing it a lot in the non-camping season of the year to fill that hole. However I think many people will find something to love about this game. Its different enough from any other in the Sims series you will feel like its something brand new. An excellent edition to your game collection and a new turn for The Sims series!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Where Does The Time Go?!
Busy, busy, busy! The time flies by so fast I wonder where it goes sometimes!
Some friends and I made the pilgrimage to PAX East and that was so much fun! We did as much as we could, played as many games as we could get our hands on, acted like little kids at a candy store, and are already looking forward to next year. PAX is such an excellent stress release for gamers every where. A break from the every day where you get to go out and meet other gamers just like you!
I did a lot of networking at PAX and made some great contacts for the convention I am working for called Too Many Games (www.toomanygames.com). We met some great independent developers who booked booths for the show. Man did I meet some talented people! I can't wait to see their games launch because I know there will be a lot of success from these people! Too Many Games is coming up fast (May 6-8th) and there is so much to do! I think the convention is going to be a big success with some big game names coming (like the Angry Video Game Nerd) and lots of great vendors! The emails fly like snow in the winter and it's fast and furious all the time!
The camping season is also coming up and House Hamilton is kicking into gear (www.househamilton.com). Between camping events we are going to and the event we are hosting in June there is a lot to plan for! Everyone is excited already and it seems like we are always planning for something. The first big kick off will be a tent setting up party sometime soon to make sure all the gear stored nicely over the winter. We also get to try out our new common tent and make sure we have all the bits and pieces.
And after the camping season comes the Benefit Evil marathon charity event (www.benefitevil.com) and we have big things planned for this year! We are already several meetings in and the team is pumped. We attended an excellent panel at PAX East about running a Childs Play Charity event and it got the ideas flowing big time! The team is so excited! Its a great feeling to see a project I started grow into something bigger. The idea came from a discussion one night with friends and we made it happen. Its so rewarding to know that this will be our second year and we learned so much from the first!
A lot more stuff demands my attention tonight so I better get a move on. I leave you with some cool links I found today.
My friend David Pierce:
http://soundcloud.com/depthpersuasion/ben-jerry-freezer-fairy#
A way too cute animal:
http://i.imgur.com/DRhrF.jpg
And a feel good story about a dog:
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/steve-dale-pet-world/2011/04/dog-and-best-friend-reunited-and-it-feels-so-good.html
Some friends and I made the pilgrimage to PAX East and that was so much fun! We did as much as we could, played as many games as we could get our hands on, acted like little kids at a candy store, and are already looking forward to next year. PAX is such an excellent stress release for gamers every where. A break from the every day where you get to go out and meet other gamers just like you!
I did a lot of networking at PAX and made some great contacts for the convention I am working for called Too Many Games (www.toomanygames.com). We met some great independent developers who booked booths for the show. Man did I meet some talented people! I can't wait to see their games launch because I know there will be a lot of success from these people! Too Many Games is coming up fast (May 6-8th) and there is so much to do! I think the convention is going to be a big success with some big game names coming (like the Angry Video Game Nerd) and lots of great vendors! The emails fly like snow in the winter and it's fast and furious all the time!
The camping season is also coming up and House Hamilton is kicking into gear (www.househamilton.com). Between camping events we are going to and the event we are hosting in June there is a lot to plan for! Everyone is excited already and it seems like we are always planning for something. The first big kick off will be a tent setting up party sometime soon to make sure all the gear stored nicely over the winter. We also get to try out our new common tent and make sure we have all the bits and pieces.
And after the camping season comes the Benefit Evil marathon charity event (www.benefitevil.com) and we have big things planned for this year! We are already several meetings in and the team is pumped. We attended an excellent panel at PAX East about running a Childs Play Charity event and it got the ideas flowing big time! The team is so excited! Its a great feeling to see a project I started grow into something bigger. The idea came from a discussion one night with friends and we made it happen. Its so rewarding to know that this will be our second year and we learned so much from the first!
A lot more stuff demands my attention tonight so I better get a move on. I leave you with some cool links I found today.
My friend David Pierce:
http://soundcloud.com/depthpersuasion/ben-jerry-freezer-fairy#
A way too cute animal:
http://i.imgur.com/DRhrF.jpg
And a feel good story about a dog:
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/steve-dale-pet-world/2011/04/dog-and-best-friend-reunited-and-it-feels-so-good.html
Monday, March 28, 2011
The Sims Medieval: A Loving Rant of a Mini-Review
If you are a friend of mine or know me personally in any way you would know that The Sims Medieval (EA Games) has been my most anticipated game of the year. I was excited, I preordered it, I counted the days, and finally it arrived!
With the preorder you got a few goodies. In the case came some codes for fancy armor and a new throne room. I had a terrible time trying to figure out how to redeem the code due to vague instructions but with the help of the internet at large I figured out I was trying to use the wrong main menu. So I get the game started and I am greeted with an awesome intro by none other then Patrick Stewart! That man can sell anything.
I decide since the game is not really like any other from the Sim's franchise I should play though the tutorial. I get about an hour in and the game pauses to tell me a tip. And then won't come unpaused. Nothing I did would get the game to acknowledge that I had done what it wanted and that I could now continue on. So I save and quit to the desktop, curse a bit, and boot it back up. Problem solved I suppose and this makes me excited!
I continue on with my lovely Monarch (I picked the woman) and spend the next few hours learning how different the game really is! Its more of a point and click hero adventure then a Sims game. There is no building construction right off the bat. This makes me a little sad as I was looking forward to building the most bad ass castle I could think of before even letting the game unpause for the first time. After maybe 5 hours of game play I have yet to construct anything other then a barracks which was a pre-generated building I got to place for leveling up.
Yes your Sim Hero levels up. There are several classes you can play but you start as the Monarch which is still the only one I have unlocked. You receive experience points by completing daily tasks (like aspirations in Sims 3) and by finishing quests. You also get some random points here and there for certain tasks and discoveries (for instance if you feed the pit monster you get experience and a mood booster bonus). So you set out to level up and become a better ruler and hopefully unlock enough that you get to play with new Heros.
You receive a quest task which you can (apparently) take as long as you want to complete. As I said I was a few hours in and I decided to start one about a Warlock in my land that I needed to get rid of. I only had the Monarch unlocked so my only option for the story line was "make the Warlock love you" and I figured I would woo him and then kick him off a bridge or something. So I begin the quest and first its find out whats going on, then kiss him, then woo him, then "woo woo" with the Warlock. At this point I'm thinking "SERIOUSLY!". I had no other option if I wanted to continue on with this quest. So I "woo woo" with the Warlock and guess what? They made my Sim get pregnant. I was furious! Not only did I have NO option but now they threw this in there! As a female Sim I had NO CHOICE in the fact that I HAD to have sex with this dude but then I got pregnant! I imagine if you picked to play as the male Sim this would be a non-issue.
I was so pissed (as it also effected the fact that I had to wait to continue on with the quest to duel another guy, but now there is a baby basket in the castle kitchen that I can't move and a baby that doesn't stop crying) that I turned off the game and left. I just couldn't believe they would throw that in there. Now my only option is to continue on with the quest and marry the Warlock OR start the whole game over again.
I feel like I must have seriously missed something in the tutorial when I started the game. Maybe I did? I have no idea if I should have other adventurers to play with by now so I could have taken a different game path. Its hard to say though as The Sims is generally a pretty open game world. At this point I feel like the attempt to blend the sandbox and quest based didn't work quite as well as they were hoping.
All I know is I have to restart and see if I got lost somewhere. Maybe I can find a "how to" online. Either way, I hope the game redeems itself because I sure have loved The Sims up to this point and I would hate to have that change.
Monday, March 14, 2011
PAX East 2011
PAX is an amazing thing. A gathering of a metric ton (I heard 65,000 people for this year) of people who all share the same passions. Never in my life have I been to an event with so many nice people. Every year I go I make new friends, see interesting people, and have some of the best conversations I will have, all crammed into one amazing three day convention.
I wonder what it is about PAX that seems to bring out the best in everyone. There is something about the weekend that seems to let everyone relax and enjoy their time together. It doesn't seem to matter who you talk to. The bands, the industry people, the fans, the convention workers; everyone seems to have their good face on. Everyone seems to have at least a few minutes for everyone else.
I'll be posting a better debriefing tomorrow. This nerdfest vacation was EXACTLY what this worn out warrior needed to recharge and be inspired. Thanks PAX!
I wonder what it is about PAX that seems to bring out the best in everyone. There is something about the weekend that seems to let everyone relax and enjoy their time together. It doesn't seem to matter who you talk to. The bands, the industry people, the fans, the convention workers; everyone seems to have their good face on. Everyone seems to have at least a few minutes for everyone else.
I'll be posting a better debriefing tomorrow. This nerdfest vacation was EXACTLY what this worn out warrior needed to recharge and be inspired. Thanks PAX!
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