Nerd World: Gaming in the Free World!

Well it's that time again, that's right the time i have homework and feel like procrastinating. So i figure I would make my next newest article, this time around its about free game I have recently found that are enjoyable.


First up is a new game out called Project Powder made by Outspark. This is a MMO that based purely on snowboarding. I know weird ehh but after playing it for a bit I started to remember the good old days of CoolBoarders. This game is what you would expect most boarding games to be. You start at the top of the hill and you try to be the first one to the bottom. On your way to the bottom you try and pull off as many tricks as you can to get more boost so you can fly by your enemies. There are tree main game modes race, battle, and coin race, and each of these game modes can be either played with a team or free for all. Race is what it seems to be no tricks just clean cut snowboarding, first person to the bottom wins, and if in team their whole team wins. Battle is similar to race in which you try to get yourself or a team member into first but this time you use random weapons to slow down your opponents.Be careful though because you can also hit you allies. The finally game type is based on coins the person with the most coins gets first. This game is still in the open beta so of course it comes with a few bugs, but the number of bugs was very few in the week that I have been playing it i have only seen one. There are some things I do not like about this game so here comes my criticism. I hate the fact that in teams your team can only win if one of your members gets to the bottom first, I think it should be an average of your team. I have never like that in these online games you have to use your gold and buy upgrades that are not permanent. Other than that I do like this game, if you decide to play look me up my user name is Caerus31. So I will give this game 9 thumbs up.


Thought this post was over ehh, well i got one more game for you to make up for missing a week or two of posting. This game is an online game called JamLegend. If you can not guess by the title it is a guitar hero type online game. As you play the songs they have up right now you gain experience based on how good you did. The list on the site is pretty good and it is bound to get better as the game gets older. Now to play the game I find the only way to really have fun with it is to dust of that old wired guitar for the 360 and plug it in map the keys to the keyboard and rock the night away, but for those that do not have one you can use your keyboard and map the beats to what ever would suit you. There is also a friend system in which you can duel your friend on any song currently online. The only real cons to this is that sometimes your browser will lag a little and cause some lag which screws you up. Other than that the game seems pretty cool and I hope that some of my favorite bands get onto the game. So like the last game if you do try it and think your gonna stick with it give me a friend invite, my user name is Caerus. So for this one ill give it 8 thumbs up.

~Yogo

On Failure

First off, I totally fail at updating this. But it's ok! 'cos no one reads it!

In other news I've been keeping busy. Lots and lots of theater! Angels in America has moved on to the MHSGD state finals in Boston, which should be lots of fun. That's happening next weekend, on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, which means skipping school on Friday. Woo!

Schoolwork has been eating a lot of my time too, when I actually get around to it. Mostly I've had to deal with some scholarship applications, which are a real pain, but something that has to get done 'cos when you're talking about a twenty grand baseline cost for tuition and housing and the like, any amount of money off of that is awesome. Luckily, Technical Theater is such a "small" major, as in a very small amount of people actually major in it, that as of right now there's only one other person applying for the one at the actual college, and very few people applying for the theater ones at the school as well. Woohoo! (Redux!)

I'm gonna hopefully try and force myself to post on this at least once a night, to make myself do some creative thinking on posts and not be lazy and stuff. Speaking of which I have some other work I should probably be doing right about now, so I'm gonna go find out what it is and then find a way to procrastinate!

Post on another band later today!

On Victory

Earlier today I was having a dicussion with my comrade in arms (aka friend slash associate) Vlad Firoiu (don't ask me how to pronounce that). I can't quite remember what we were talking about, but eventually I brought up the discovery of my old, old Gameboy, and I'm not talking about no SP or Advance or Micro or even Color. No, I'm talking about the original Gameboy, the freaking brick, the one I grew up playing with and dropping down my basement stairs, noticing no difference between pre and post droppage. The thing was freaking indestructable! But I digress, my various Gameboys and my growing up and such are stories left for a different (yet equally inane, remember this!) post. No my friends, we are here to talk about something different. Something that was just as close to me as my Gameboy. Something large, mean, and not-really-green-'cos-he's-actually-orangey-and-yellow-with-a-bit-of-blue-there-I-guess. Something....in bold, italicized print!

Something called....Charizard.

Like I mentioned, Charizard was another important part of my childhood. Charmander was the first Pokemon I ever got, and Charizard was a direct evolution of that. I struggled with him, I triumphed with him. We laughed, cried, and jumped for joy together (well, mostly me, though I like to imagine my little 2d sprite of a friend could do those things). So needless to say I was more than a little taken aback when this Vlad character tried to convince me that Charizard was capable of using the move Fly in Pokemons Red and Blue. 

Having played Blue for the greater part of my original Gameboy's lifespan (and even now when I get bored), I knew for a fact that Charizard couldn't use Fly. But Vlad was absolutely certain, as he always is, that he's right, and 90% of the time he is. But this was more than him questioning whether or not Charizard could fly. No no no, it was much more than that. By questioning the abilities of my Pokemon brother, he was questioning my very childhood. And such an injustice could not stand.

And so the battle began. Or at least it did for me, I don't think he really cared that much, as these things often go. Vlad had an extensive knowledge of all things Pokemon (go figure), which only bolstered his confidence. He quickly directed me to a website that contained (you'll never guess it), all things Pokemon. And horror upon horrors, a great blow was dealt to me.

This site claimed Charizard could use Fly!

But, being the crafty Pokemaster that I am (insert mwahahahah), I noticed that it lumped together Red, Blue, and Yellow into one category. "Aha!" I probably said both aloud and in my head. "This site lumps Red, Blue, and Yellow into one category!" Yet Vlad was still adamant. Frustrated, but with this singular point backing me and my childhood up, I quickly scoured the interwebs, hoping and praying for something, anything, to prove me right.

And, after maybe five or so minutes of searching later, I came upon this:

"Can't in Red/Blue

 Can in Yellow"

This simple, short post was all I needed. I jumped in the air, shouted for joy, and let out a big YAWP, for I had been victorious!

And thus, I won the day, and my childhood was preserved. 

The fact that I've spent the last twenty minutes posting about a debate over a single Pokemon and it's capabilities, and enjoyed every minute of it, shows that it truly is the simple things in life that keeps one going.

Gotta catch 'em all!

Nerd World: Streetfighter 4

For my first trick I will be reviewing my favorite fighting series newest game Street Fighter 4. When I was a kid my first fighting game i ever played was Street Fighter 2 on the Genesis. I used to play it for hours as Ryu (because he had the only moves i knew). Ever since they announced SF4 I have wanted to get it and last week I had enough money to get it, so heres my thoughts on it. If you have ever played a Street Fighter and liked it this is the game for you. The controls for the original characters are similar so old fans can get right into the game and have a sense of familiarity. Even if you have not played it I suggest you badger a friend to get it and at least try it, the game play is different from that of Soul Caliber, Virtual Fighter and etc. Unlike those games that have gone from the 2D fields to become 3D in how you can move SF4 sticks to its roots and stays 2D and pulls it off fantastically. The moves are more complicated than other fighting games allowing people with knowledge of their character to beat the annoying SPAMMERS (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE).I am not saying that I can do that but I have faced people that just combo me to death :(.

Which brings me to my next point internet play. I have not dived to deep into this but like most online fighting games it can be a good fight or a horrible one depending on both your and your opponents connection. Now my connection is always in the green but i ran into some horrible connections which ended with me not being able to control my character and dieing to retard i should be able to beat.

Now about the Art, in video games most people disregard art and just go into how real it looks and bla bla bla. Personally i dont care if its two pixels in a big pixel if the game play is good ill play it. Now you might be asking yourself "if Yogo doesnt care about art why is he bringing it up". Well my reader i bring this up because the art is like mixing the old arcade days with the modern 3D days. The characters still have that arcade 90's feel but they look amazing, I truly love what they did for the Aesthetics of SF.

Onto the characters, if you have followed the series you probably noticed that Ryu, Ken and Akuma have always had the same or at least similar moves. Well that is still true but they did a much better job at dividing them up. Ryu now has a better Hadouken and Tatsumaki Senpuu-Kyaku (Hurricane Kick), whereas Ken has an amazing Shoryuken, and Akuma can teleport and has other new moves that are still hard for me to pull off. Besides those characters the others are very unique in speed, power, and moves. Personally my favorites are Sakura and Cammy. Sakura has some of Ryu's moves which helps me get used to her faster because of the amount i used to play Ryu and she can combo much better than Ryu in my opinion, and Cammy because she is fast and she has moves that are very versatile.

So over all if your a SF fan this is a must buy, and if your not I would try it first to see if you like how its set up first. You have reached the end of my first Video Game review congrats....


~Yogo

O CRAP forgot to rate it sorry. I rate my stuff on thumbs 10 thumbs up being perfect 0 thumbs being the creator should go on a deserted island and stay there for all eternity. So for SF4 I give it 9 Thumbs up.

~Yogo (for real this time)

My Intro

Evnin Yall. My name is @#~#$ $#@^&%$&*(% but u guys can call me Yogo. If your reading this then you have somehow found Joe page. He decided to make me an author (ya go figure) and so out of boredom I have decided to contribute to this small blog. I am really into Video Games, learning(ya i know weird),and computer stuff(VB, C++, internet in general). I am currently learning about the whole process of hosting websites and how to get a forum site up and running for me and my friends,and hoping to move onto C++ within a week. I will try to post at least once a week about whatever is on my mind whether it be help with a computer, cool programs to try out, or just video game reviews. As a last note I am not a professional in any way, I do like computers and games and know a good amount on both, i am just stating my opinion, if it helps you gratzy, if you think im wrong well good for you somehow i think ill go on.

~Yogo

On New Music

So, now that the introductions are all out of the way and whatnot, time for some of the juicy content that I know all of my nonexistant readers so ravenously crave!

One thing I plan to do is, once a week every week, download, buy, or otherwise aquire a CD or two from a band, previously known or not, that I currently have no music from. I'll then listen to said CD, and over the course of a few days come up with a general review of the albums. I love music, I have a new iPod with lots of space, and I have a relatively small library of music at the moment (going from a puny 2g Nano to a shiny new 16g iTouch is quite the mindblowing change), so everything fits into place! Funfun!

-DISCLAIMER-

I am in no way a professional or otherwise important person (read: my opinion doesn't matter), and everything I'll be talking about is strictly my personal opinion. Feel free to hate me and tell me why I'm wrong, however! Just don't expect me to listen.

THIS WEEK, ON THE MUSICAL REVIEW....

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE!

Death Cab's a band I'd heard of previously, as a few of my friends listen to them and I've heard their song "Cath..." on the local radio station 104.1 WBCN a few times and liked it, so I figured they were as good a band as any to start. I aquired their two most "recent" albums, Narrow Stairs and Plans, a couple days ago so I think I've had enough time by now to analyze and reflect and all that fun stuff.

I almost always keep my iPod and iTunes on shuffle, 'cos I'd rather let my music be randomly chosen to keep things interesting, even within individual albums and bands along with the standard "shuffle" option. Keeping this in mind, the first six songs from between the two albums each had a mention of "love" or "heart" in them. Now this isn't a bad thing by itself, but it can create an almost sort of stale lyrical effect, in that almost every song is more or less about the same thing. Again, not necessarily a bad thing, but I enjoy bands that are capable of exploring many different themes. This may also be biased, having only two of their albums to sample from.

Beyond this string of similar songs, there was just enough variety to keep my interest satieted, and overall came out feeling positive about the band. The smooth vocals of Ben Gibbard are easy to listen to, but I found that half the time I could have removed the vocals entirely and still enjoyed the music. The band is just that good instrumentally. The rather lengthy instrumental intro to "I Will Possess Your Heart" is absolutely awesome, and "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" is touching with it's story of one's devotion to another.

Overall, I rate Death Cab rather highly, and I definitely plan on looking into some of their other albums. Though many of their songs may be similar, they provide me with plenty to enjoy, though I certainly won't put them exclusively on shuffle unless I'm feeling overly sappy, sad, or romantic (which, now that I think about it, is quite often...).

I'll see you next week with another review of a band I have yet to choose! Weeeee!

On Introductions

Hello there! My name is Joe Alden, and in case you have happened to somehow stumbled upon (not to be confused with Stumbleupon) this blog, then congratulations! You need to find some more free time! Truthfully I expect very few people to ever actually read any of the posts I will be making, but I plan on making at least a post a day, if I can manage to pull that off. "But Joe, if you obviously have a lot of free time yourself (enough to actually make this rather inane blog), then how would you not have enough time to make a single post a day?", you may be asking. Well, whenever I am supposed to be doing other things I often get distracted or bored (and having an internet capable iTouch certainly helps), and wind up doing inane or stupid things...such as creating this blog. Go me! As I've mentioned earlier, this blog is purely for the sake of my own entertainment, and as such I will be posting about whatever I feel like, whenever I feel like (at least once a day, see what I did thar?)! And, should any lonely readers ever find themselves viewing this, feel free to comment on anything I may say...it will make me feel a bit less lonely and worthless.

Onward to victory!