Fallout 4

    One of the most anticipated games of 2015 hit last month, and unless you've been hiding in an underground bunker(or can't read a title), you know it's Fallout 4. I've been playing it constantly ever since. Last night I got the platinum trophy for PS4 and I figured now is a good time to give it a full review. I haven't seen everything in the game, there's way to much content, but I have seen most of it. And there's a lot.

    For the tl:dr crowd lets do a quick overview. On a scale of 1 to 5, I'd rate this game a really high 4. It's an incredible game but there's to many flaws to give it a full 5. That said, I still consider this a must play title.

Graphical glitches are pretty common.

    Graphics are acceptable but not phenomenal. You'll definitely know what you're looking at, and in some locations it'll take your breath away. But there's some tearing in certain places and you'll frequently have xray vision, allowing you to see inside the player and npc's. Bethesda also seemed to be unable to decide if they wanted to go with ultra realistic or slightly cartoonish. Dogmeat is an incredible rendering of a german shepherd, but sometimes he looks out of place because the landscapes have a more illustrated look to them. That's just one example of what I mean. Both the landscape and Dogmeat are really well done in their respective styles, they just bump up against each other. Which brings me to my next point..
    Bethesda went with an interesting game philosophy for Fallout 4. It's a jack of all trades, but a master of none. It's the maintenance guy who knows how to do everything but isn't a pro at anything, of gaming. You can see this everywhere in the game. It's first person enough to be a shooter but it's clearly not a shooter. It's graphics are awesome but not groundbreaking. There's tons of great content but very little really blows you away. It's a fun city builder but it's tediously implemented. And so on and so on. There's no one element that makes Fallout 4 the incredible experience that it is, but when you add them all up, it's a knockout.
    The story line is pure Fallout. Guy(or Girl, sorta) leaves vault, goes on a quest, does cool stuff in the wasteland, saves the day. Nothing groundbreaking there, but it's always worked for the series and I'm not complaining. It's also almost completely unnecessary. You could ignore the story line and still have a blast playing this game. There are some pretty great twists that I wasn't expecting but I'm not about to spoil it for you.

This is just the northwest portion of the map. The game is huge.

    The world is huge. There are places to go and explore/quest everywhere. They really did a great job fleshing out the world and making it feel alive. Traders walk the ruined highways, beasts roam the countryside, ferals hide in every shattered train car. You'll encounter gorgeous sunny days and miserable radiation storms. Distant explosions and gunfire will remind you that you're not alone in this hellscape. The only problem with this world is that I don't have a car. Hell, even a horse would have been nice in a pinch.
    The sound effects, voice overs, and music are outstanding. Bethesda really nailed it. The radio station music selections are fallout through and through. The original score for the game is breathtaking, it's the kind of song that was waiting to be created. The voice overs are much better than any other Bethesda title I've ever played. Occasionally there's a hiccup but in general they sound more natural. The sound effects kick ass, some guns buzz, some blam, some pop, they all sound unique and match what you expect the weapon to sound like. There were a few times when a sound effect loop would get stuck however. For example, I gave a companion the minigun and after an intense fire fight the noise the gun made got stuck. Really annoying.
    Content wise, the game again delivers but nothing truly mind blowing. You've got the rpg element going strong and VATS targeting really helps remove the first person shooter feel. Or ignore VATS and it's a crazy intense shooter. Hacking and lockpicking mini games are fun and add variety. There's a very minecrafty city building element to get lost in forever. There's crafting and looting. There's some challenging puzzles. A little bit of everything, and then there's the radiant quest system. It works well and always gives you something to do but it definitely feels to mechanical. While doing the radiant quests I was constantly reminded of the Elder Scrolls. Not a bad thing, but something I think they need to work on. The radiant quest system needs more variety and it needs to be molded more for Fallout.
    One of my biggest complaints about this game, is the lack of choice making and real consequences. One of the greatest things about the Fallout universe is that you have an effect on things. With Fallout 4 that seems to have disappeared. Yes you have dialog choices, but the game does everything it can to make sure that your choices line up with the story line Bethesda created. Even when you're a total jerk, it rarely messes things up. The only real difference is the dialog along the way.

    Wrapping up here, I would highly recommend this game. It pulls you in and makes you forget everything else. I still haven't played the Bloodborne dlc I purchased. Fallout 4 is buggy, and it lacks polish, but more importantly, it's incredibly fun. And fun is why we play these games. You gotta play this game!

Why Riot?

   Yesterday, April 27th 2015, the city of Baltimore exploded as riots consumed parts of Charm City. I watched a lot of it unfold online through various sites, but mostly through Google+ and Twitter. On Twitter there are a lot of posts like the following:

Lets protest for justice!!!!! HOW!? By smashing the windows of all the shops on the road.. Wait Wut!? #BaltimoreRiots
— Tom Syndicate (@ProSyndicate) April 28, 2015

Nothing sways public opinion quite like assaulting bystanders, media & police, looting & destruction of property #BaltimoreRiots #Baltimore
— Aaron Robinow (@aaronrobinow) April 26, 2015

Rioters mind set: Lets destroy and burn our city! Because when this is all over we can enjoy being left with nothing!.. #BaltimoreRiots
— Tom Syndicate (@ProSyndicate) April 28, 2015

"I'll just throw this chair through a sports bar and social justice will be restored." #BaltimoreRiots pic.twitter.com/pGCxqe8ZoW
— ShitWhitePeopleRuin (@PeopleRuin) April 28, 2015

Yes, because burning and looting your own neighborhood is always the most reasonable way of getting your point across. #BaltimoreRiots
— Future First Lady (@Future1stLady1) April 28, 2015

Prove you aren't a criminal by acting like a criminal. Logic. #BaltimoreRiots
— Dani Butcher (@RepublicanSass) April 27, 2015

Burn down your neighborhood and steal from local businesses to promote justice. Makes sense, right? #BaltimoreRiots
— Dani Butcher (@RepublicanSass) April 27, 2015

  That last woman is so dense I had to post two of hers. And this is just a small sample. If you search #BaltimoreRiots there are tons of tweets saying essentially the same thing. They point out the stupidity and senselessness of it all or simply ask why. Obviously this is a question a lot of white people seem to be asking. I'm hoping I can explain it.
  The problem seems to be that people are confusing a peaceful protest with a riot. They are not the same but in this case they are related.
  In a peaceful protest, a bunch of people with a common grievance get together and decide to take their cause to the streets. This usually involves organized marches, media outreach, chanting, and signs describing the problem you want solved. The key factor in all of this is organization. It's all planned, it's all organized and it all has a common goal.
  Yesterday started out as protests. However, at some pointed it turned into riots. A riot is violent, undirected, lacks little to no leadership, and has two goals. Destruction and release. Riots do not get planned, no one sits around and says "Hey, lets solve our problem by destroying our own community".
  Riots are not rational, they are emotional. Riots occur when a group of people become so disenfranchised that they simply do not care who or what they damage anymore. They don't feel they have any power or control over their situation. The only goal is to vent anger and frustration.
  In this particular situation, a man died in police custody, and virtually no explanation has been giving as to how or why he died. This isn't the first time. It's been happening quite a lot lately, so much so, that the black community feels it's intentional. There have been protests about it, there have been discussions about it, and yet here we are and it's happening again. And each time it happens, the police, for the most part, get away with it.
  Because it has continued to happen and there seem to be little consequences, there is a growing number of people who don't feel that peaceful avenues are working. They've tried communicating, protesting, and even litigation. None have succeeded. When a person has no civilized options left, lawlessness becomes the only option. They are frustrated and they're angry. Really angry. They're not thinking about this rationally. They don't care what they smash, smashing anything within reach is the point. Why? Because it emotionally vents the negative feelings that have been bottling up. Riots are not thought out solutions, they're reactions on a cultural scale.
  If it sounds like I'm defending the rioters, I'm not. Rioting is foolish, it accomplishes nothing, and nine times out of ten, it hurts the people rioting more than anyone else. However, I can completely understand why this is happening. They don't feel they have any other options and they don't care if it makes sense. They're reacting out of rage and anger. They don't care how it makes them look online, or in the media. You don't have to condone it, to understand it. If we can understand it, hopefully we can come up with solutions so that it doesn't happen again.

Bloodborne

"And so the Hunt begins again."

  The hunt began last week, and ever since then it has consumed me. All I think about is Bloodborne. I knew this game was gonna be good when I saw the previews last year. But it's nothing like I thought it would be. I expected a fun, dark, button mashing, action rpg, like Diablo. What I got was a reminder of how things used to be and just how difficult video games can be.
  I've been gaming since the early 80's and things have changed drastically since those days. Games are still tons of fun but they've gotten easy as time marches on. Checkpoints, ingame clues, selectable difficulty, are all huge these days. Not in this game. This game revels in frustration and anger. It feeds off your desire to throw the controller through the tv in absolute rage. It is fantastic.
  If you're like me, you never played a souls game. They are apparently notorious for their difficulty level. I had no idea this was the case, so I fired up the game, created my character, watched a very short cut scene, went into the next room, and died. At first I was annoyed. Then I realized that I was supposed to die here. Ok, no big deal. Two minutes later I died, again. This pattern repeated itself for two days. Yes you read that right, two days of getting my ass completely handed to me. And yet, I couldn't stop playing. Every time I died I was just a little further in the game than the previous death. Just enough progress to keep me going. The story is awesome but it's not in your face about it. Again, they give you just enough to keep you going.
  Finally, after two days, I defeated the first boss. The feeling of accomplishment and pride in finally progressing was incredible. I almost stood up and did a little dance. But that's really the part no one seems to mention. Yes the game is hard. Really hard, Mind numbingly hard. But because of the difficulty you really feel like you've done something awesome. Contrast that with a game like GTA V and you'll know what I mean. GTA is a great game, one of my personal favorites in fact, but it's not even remotely difficult. When you finish the story line it feels more like you watched a movie than played a game. Bloodborne is the complete opposite of that. Every victory in the game feels like you actually achieved something. You fought through adversity and triumphed!

 
  But Bloodborne isn't just a one trick pony. In addition to the difficulty, the game is also gorgeous. The setting and scenery are some of the best I've ever seen. It does a great job capturing the classic feel of the victorian gothic motif. The levels are huge and a ton of fun to explore. I'm still going back to previous levels and making sure I didn't miss anything. The story line is interesting but it's kinda sparse. You get bits and pieces through dialog, a few cut scenes, and scenery, but it doesn't hand feed you the plot. This works in Bloodborne's favor though because it adds to the mystery of the locations and people in the game. I haven't beaten it yet, so I'm sure more will come to light.
  The game does have a few downsides, nothing in this world is perfect. The biggest problem in the game are the load times. Every time you die, or go to your safe area, you will be sitting there waiting and staring at the Bloodborne logo screen. It's at least 30 seconds long each time and it never changes. Always the same screen. They really should have used this time to showcase some art, offer tips, etc. Load times are being worked on for the next patch but until then, it sucks. Another problem I have with the game is a bit nit picky. When you kill someone, if they've started saying something, they finish saying it even though they're dead. It's silly, but it pulls you out of the zone when it happens. Another issue is the camera. Frequently during big fights something will be blocking my view, My head, a tree branch, a giant mutated limb, that sorta thing. It could have been done better.
  The only games I can compare Bloodborne to are both pretty old. It's got the horror thing going strong, and it can scare the hell out of you, just like the original Resident Evil on the first Playstation. Staying in that time space, it's incredibly difficult but rewarding, like Kings Field. You will cheer every time you reach a checkpoint. And as weird as it seems, it also reminds me of Dwarf Fortress. The games are not even remotely similar but the motto of Dwarf Fortress players has always been, "Losing is fun!", and in Bloodborne it really helps to keep that in mind.
  Overall, I love this game. It's already become a classic to me. I'll probably be playing this game for a long time. I would absolutely recommend people buy it. Just be prepared and be patient. You will die, over and over, but you will get better.

"Long ago, Old Yharnam was overrun by the Plague of Beasts and left to rot in decay and now the only voices heard there are the howls of Beasts."

Basic Fun/Taito Space Invaders - Carabiner Edition

  Over the holidays, I received two new handheld games. This is one of them. For this entry we've got the classic game Space Invaders by Taito. This version is manufactured by a company called Basic Fun, who to my surprise, are located just outside philly, like me. This version was made in 2011.
  The game came in a standard, cardboard backed, bubble plastic package. It's listed as being for ages 6+ and requires two AAA batteries that are not included. The design is very cheap but we'll get into the details further down.
  It's called the Carabiner edition, for those who might not know, basically this means you can clip it onto your pants, backpack, or whatever. The word comes from rock climbers who use carabiners to latch onto their safety ropes. I guess for a child this would be great but I just can't see myself clipping this game to my leg and heading out in public.
 

  As you can see, the exterior of the game is mostly plastic. Like I said earlier, it's rather cheap. The only metal on it is the screw that holds the battery plate in place on the back of the unit. Just above that you can see speaker holes. On the front you've got the Space Invaders logo at the top, the screen, then below it a D-pad and two buttons. This is actually very telling for a few reasons. The first is that there's really no need for a full D-pad, you can only move right and left in the game. The second is that both buttons do the exact same thing. They shoot. The only reason this would be done is to save money making the unit. By doing it this way, they can use the same plastic shell over and over for different games. This isn't the first time we've seen this on this blog. SongHai does the same thing with their games.
  In case you've been living under a rock since the seventies, in Space Invaders the objective is to shoot down endless waves of aliens who are trying to, well, uhhm....invade. On this version it's not endless though, you only fight ten waves. The original trademark for Space Invaders is from 1978, personally I mostly remember it from playing it on the legendary Atari 2600. The game was simplistic and tons of fun back then, and it still is.
  Overall, this specific unit does well. It's a great game and worth adding to your handheld collection. However, because of the build quality, I wouldn't expect it to rise in value. This unit is not on the same level as Nintendo's Game & Watch series. It's also not nearly as expensive.

Nintendo Donkey Kong Jr. Game & Watch

  It's been over thirty years since I got my hands on Nintendo's Donkey Kong Jr. from their Game & Watch series. As a small child I received one as a xmas gift from santa. I played this game constantly, always had it with me, and to this day, I'm still not sure how I lost it. I think it got misplaced when my family moved from our apartment to a town house in the same neighborhood. Really though it's a mystery, because in 1982 I was only about five years old. I could easily be remembering wrong. Anyway, enough about ancient history, let's get to the details.

Reset screen showing all possible LCD states.

  The Donkey Kong Jr. Game & Watch hit the US in 1982. It's is widely considered to be one of the best titles in the series. The unit is about four and a quarter inches long, has a dark green plastic back, white trim on the sides and a green metallic plate on the front side. The frame of the screen has the words DONKEY KONG JR. on the top and Nintendo on the bottom. The Game & Watch logo appears on the front left side and below that, a color image of Donkey Kong holding Jr on his shoulders. Jr has the key to Kong's cage in his hand.

  The back of the unit features the battery compartment, it uses two watch batteries, a metal kick stand, a serial number, a model number, and some other manufacturing information. The serial number for this particular unit is 15468549. It's model no. is DJ-101. This marks it is as being part of the New Wide Screen family of the Game & Watch series.

Back side of the unit.

  The game has ten buttons in total. On the far right side of the front, there are two buttons inset that require a pen or other such device to press them. ALARM sets the alarm clock, ACL resets the game and sets the time. Just left of those are three buttons, GAME A, GAME B, and TIME. Game a and b are difficulty settings, time shows what time the alarm is set to. Below these, there is a round JUMP button. On the left side of the front is a 4 button D pad for moving DK Jr. This is one of the earliest uses of the D pad in gaming history! Game & Watch predates the famicom and the nes by more than a year.

  Gameplay is very simple. DK Jr. must save his dad by making his way to the cage and unlocking it with the swinging key. This must be done four times. While maneuvering through the jungle he must avoids birds and snapjaw's or he loses a life, of which, he has three. Bonus points can be scored by dropping fruit, located on the upper level, on the bad guys. Every time you save DK, the game gets a little tougher.
  As far as retro handheld electronic games go, I can't recommend this one enough. Finding one in good shape can be difficult. Focus less on scratches to the casing and more on an undamaged screen, buttons that still have good play in them, and a clean battery compartment. Every collector should get this game. It's a true legend. Some games are older, some games are rarer, but few games are as much fun as the Donkey Kong Jr. Game & Watch.

Oculus Rift

  Over the past few days, the Oculus Rift VR system has gone from savior to demon, and all it took was for Facebook to acquire it. Full disclosure here, I am not a fan of Facebook and I've never hidden that fact. This post will obviously reinforce my personal bias.
  When I first heard about Oculus Rift I thought it was a great idea but destined to fail. I didn't see any point in helping fund the kickstarter, but I have kept an eye on the system's progress because it's something that truly interests me.
  I grew up in the 80's and 90's and virtual reality was always the distant dream of the future. We had movies about it, and there were even arcades that hosted early vr systems. They were kinda fun, but clunky, and they didn't take off the way anyone expected. But the hope and dream of a viable, home vr system, never left the thoughts of anyone who played games and grew up in that time.
  Oculus Rift brought that dream back to us, and offered it up as a reality. That's why this acquisition has caused such and uproar. The people freaking out, finally saw their childhood dreams starting to come true, and then that dream was sold for two billion dollars. Not only was is it sold, it was sold to Facebook.

 Even though Facebook is massive and used by people everywhere, it's a hated company. And for good reason. They rarely show respect for their user base, and their privacy models are joke. Facebook has been around for far less time and has somehow managed to be as distrusted and hated as Microsoft.
  The acquisition may have gone a bit smoother among the fans if it hadn't been sold to Facebook specifically. People simply do not trust them to take the system in the proper direction. The two billion will certainly help in the development but how the system will be used is now suspect. The possibilities for use in a social networking framework are endless and exciting, but not if it's tied to facebook.
 As stated earlier, I didn't fund the kickstarter, but I've always had an eye on Oculus. If it lived up to my expectations, I was planning on buying it. I've pretty much abandoned console gaming, but this would have brought me back. That is no longer a possibility, and unfortunately for Oculus Rift, I'm not alone in this position. Someone else, somewhere, will take this technology in the right direction, and they'll get our money. It's going to happen, if nothing else Oculus Rift has proven that people still want this.

Tooin

This is a track I started working on many many years ago. I finally completed it recently when I broke out all my old music gear. It was made primarily on three pieces of equipment. The Korg ER-1 rhythm synth, the Korg ES-1 sampler, and a Roland RS-5 synthesizer. Out of the three, the ES-1 was the real work horse. It handled everything except for some of the hi hats, which the ER-1 was used for, and the slow bass line, which was done with the RS-5.

I consider this track to be the best work I've done yet. It's got a lot more going on in it than any other piece of music I've created so far. I feel that while the other tracks I've made were good concepts, at the time of creating them I simply lacked the knowledge to make them really shine.

What I find most interesting is the fact that because I started it so long ago and then came back to it, my music taste has changed alot since then. If I had started this now it would be a very different composition, but I felt it was important to stay true to the original concept and complete it the way I had originally planned. The only deviation from the original concept is the slow but steady bassline. Without it the track just didn't feel like a unified piece of music.

I hope you enjoy it.