Music Leads to Dancing and Dancing Leads to Touching

I love your big ass..

2008-09-02T23:44:37Z

D 'n' D

2008-08-20T03:21:57Z

Taken from module B2: The Keep on the Borderlands by Gary Gygax

I could have sworn I'd made a post about Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition recently, and was shocked to see that my last post was way back in May! My synapses got crossed and it was a flickr photoset I was thinking of.

So, 4th Edition DnD. There was a lot of talk about 4e on the boards over at Gamers with Jobs right before it came out. That Wizards was revamping the game to be more accessible to new folk, making the game more fluid and less esoteric than 3.5. People on the boards were very optimistic about what 4e could offer. Because of all the chatter, I bought the 4e Players Handbook shortly after release.

While I've owned many DnD books and modules over the years (2nd Edition only though), I've never had a good chance to play until now. Monday nights I'm playing a campaign with Gaald, Certis, and Brennil (from Gamers with Jobs) Not surprisingly, I'm completely loving it! Brennil is a fantastic DM and storyteller and Gaald and Certis are a blast to play with. If your curious, Brennel's blogging our adventures as they happen.

Currently Playing: Zack & Wiki (Wii), Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PSP)
Currently Reading:Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook 4th Edition

trachalio @ 2008-05-23T15:53:00

2008-05-23T20:56:50Z

Two days ago I joined a cult.

The Running Room.

I've had an on again off again fling with running. I'll try it for a week, get bored (and sore) and quit. A few months later I'll try again. Then get bored (and sore) and quit. All because I don't know how to run.

Sure, we all know the motions involved in running but unless you were on the track team in High School you probably don't know how to run properly. Not just the physical aspects but the mental ones.

You see, I'd go out for a run. I'd start out sprinting, get a few blocks away from home and promptly run out of steam. I'd walk for a few minutes, start sprinting again and have to stop even fewer blocks later. I had no clue how to pace myself.

So, I signed up for my local Running Room's Learn to Run Clinic. For the next 10 Wednesdays I'll be learning how to run properly. That's not all; The clinic isn't just about running, it's also to teach how to avoid injury, proper nutrition, and how to set reasonable (and achievable!) goals for yourself.

Terry's a big reason why I'm doing this. He loves running. At the beginning of our relationship he joked that he was going to sign me up for this clinic, because I'd been skipping out on the gym. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to sign up on my own.

Terry and I went down to Fargo last weekend for the Fargo Marathon. Hanging out with him and his running crew was infectious. All of them are super passionate about their sport. Not just because they love running but because they love the social aspect of it. These people get together at least once or twice a week and run. Keeping their pace right, encouraging each other to press on, to push themselves further than they thought they could go. I'd never realized how much more there was to running past putting one foot in front of the other.

So, that weekend, I decided to give the clinic a try. I'm a social animal and if anything will keep me coming back, it'll be the people I'm doing it with. I can function just fine on my own, but left to my own devices I'd end up sitting at home, playing video games. When what I should be hitting the gym so I can stop whining about my belly.

I just wonder if I can run and play R-Type Command at the same time.

Current playing: R-Type Command (PSP), Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode 1: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness (360)

Dear El Jay

2008-05-02T20:19:04Z

I think I has a boyfriend...
Originally uploaded by Trachalio.

Now I've got even more excuses for not blogging! Not only am I working through my pile of shame ¹, I've been spending most of my waking, non-gaming hours with this man. More to follow later.

¹ Pile of Shame: Games that have been bought, but never finished due to other games being bought and never finished.

Last Updated 9 Weeks ago

2008-04-07T16:12:17Z

These NES games are in a box under my desk at work. Surprisingly they're not actually mine.

I thought I'd done good at reducing my gaming clutter. I've been selling games back to EB on an almost every other month. Ditching games I know I'll never finish to get a modicum of credit to buy games I hopefully will finish. I thought for sure that the "collection" was down to 50 games, 70 tops! Still a lot, but not as bad as it used to be.

I decided to take inventory: 206, give or take a lender.

Two hundred and six games, spanning sixteen systems. Here's how it breaks down:

Intellivision	28	Genesis	6
NES	10	SNES	6
Playstation	30	Nintendo 64	3
Gamecube	13	Xbox	3
Playstation 2	31	Xbox 360	14
Wii	6
Gameboy Colour	3	Gameboy Advance	17
Nintendo DS	16	Playstation Portable	17
Mac/PC	3

Can you say "Big fucking nerd"?

There will be a culling tonight.

Now to work on NOT bragging about it.

Currently Playing: Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (PSP), Rock Band (Xbox 360)

Wakey Wakey

2008-01-30T14:21:12Z

Is it a problem if the first things I see in the morning include a DS, a PSP, and a Master Chief Kubrick figurine?

Currently Playing: Rez HD (XBL Arcade, Burnout: Paradise (XBox 360), Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations (DS), Geometry Wars: Galaxies (DS), Gitaroo-Man Lives! (PSP)
Currently Reading: Warlock of Firetop Mountain by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone

Rock Band

2008-01-14T17:19:24Z

WARNING: Harmonix Music Systems, Inc.™ makes no guarantee that you will in fact look like a rock star while playing Rock Band in Solo Vocal Tour mode.

You will, however, feel like a rock star no matter which instrument you choose.

You have been warned.

Currently Playing: Rock Band (360), DJ Max Portable (PSP), Super Paper Mario (Wii)
Currently Reading: "Broken Angels" by Richard Morgan

Voyager the Ornament

2007-12-26T04:16:34Z

Voyager the Ornament
Originally uploaded by Trachalio.

Merry Christmas everyone!

WANTS!

2007-08-16T19:09:12Z

Must. Have. Snake. Kubrick!

Currently Playing: Picross DS (DS), Every Extend Extra (PSP), Settlers of Catan (Xbox Live Arcade), Carcassonne (Xbox Live Arcade), Marathon 2: Durandal (Xbox Live Arcade)
Currently Reading: Six Easy Pieces:Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher by Richard Feynman

8 to Adult Indeed

2007-08-15T19:40:46Z

Clicky for the full size.

Some days, when you're bored, you can find interesting things online.

Currently Playing: Picross DS (DS), Every Extend Extra (PSP), Settlers of Catan (Xbox Live Arcade), Carcassonne (Xbox Live Arcade), Marathon 2: Durandal (Xbox Live Arcade)
Currently Reading: Six Easy Pieces:Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher by Richard Feynman

Picross = Crack

2007-08-14T18:55:42Z

Picked up Picross DS two Thursdays ago and I haven't gone a day without playing. It's become my latest on the can/play in bed game. Not only is there a shit-ton of included puzzles (I've yet to run out), you can also create your own to share with your friends over Nintendo Wi-Fi. If that's not cool enough, Nintendo will be releasing free downloads too.

If you've never played a Picross (aka Paint By Numbers) puzzle before, it's fairly simple. You are presented with a grid, surrounded by numbers. Each sequence of numbers represents a series of squares in that row or column that are filled in. By using simple logic, you can puzzle out which squares to fill in and which to mark as blank, with the end result being a pixelated picture. It's just taxing enough to make you feel like you're thinking, but simple enough that you never feel completely stumped either.

There are many sites out there for you to try this for free. WiiPicross.com is a great place to start, from the comfort of your own couch no less.

If you did pick up a copy, feel free to add me to your friend list. I'm always lookin' for new puzzles to try if you've got 'em! 232035 267124 is the code.

Currently Playing: Picross DS (DS), Every Extend Extra (PSP), Marathon 2: Durandal (Xbox Live Arcade), Condemned: Criminal Origins (Xbox 360), Guitar Hero 2 (Playstation 2)
Currently Reading: Six Easy Pieces:Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher by Richard Feynman

Nifty!

2007-08-13T18:02:45Z

Pretty neat, but it seems a bit off. I know I've listened to Stars way more than Erasure, yet Erasure is still bigger? Weird.

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

2007-07-14T15:27:50Z

Oh. My. God.

2007-07-10T16:30:00Z

Blaise Aguera y Arcas talks about his Seadragon project. I'm always amazed at what people can do, but this truly blew my mind.

We call it aceeed!

2007-06-26T19:21:33Z

I hate strategy games. I have a copy of Final Fantasy Tactics that's maybe seen 2 hours of gameplay total. Tedious. Boring. *yawn*

I hate card games. I tried playing Magic the Gathering. I had hundreds of cards thanks to a donation from a friend. I sold them all last year. I could not wrap my head around deck building to save my life.

So explain to me why I'm totally loving Metal Gear Ac!d, a combination of card gaming and strategy gaming? Seriously. I cannot stop playing it. It's replaced Puzzle Quest completely as my portable crack of choice. Seriously!

The game is far from perfect. Some of the card art uses completely jaggy jpgs, and some of the movie clips are so spastic as to be epileptic. The camera can be a right pain in the ass some times, not zooming in enough to see if that's a letter "E" above the door or a letter "F". And the story? Wow. Marionettes slaughtering people on a plane while Snake has an identity crisis and is being helped by a 14 year old psychic?

Yes.

Seriously!

Despite all this I can't stop playing. After Puzzle Quest's bastardfuckyoufuckyou cheating AI I like knowing that if something goes wrong it's completely my fault. I didn't judge the turn order right, I used the card as movement not an action. Not because some random number generator favored the computer 10 turns in a row. And perhaps I like having to think about my actions before I make them, because I know my choices dictate the outcome completely.

Metal Gear mindshare is certainly influencing my like of this game too. I've been playing Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence for my Mission Imporobable over at Gamers with Jobs. On a recent podcast, 1up.com's Shane Bettenhausen waxed poetic over Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. So much so I'm trying to find a copy of it (Substance version, natch). The KP Report, an excellent podcast by Ryan Payton, has been getting into the metaphorical aspects of the Metal Gear Solid series. Something I never thought to look for in a "sneak 'n' kill" game.

Perhaps that's the main reason I'm digging it; looking for metaphors. If games truely are arn't then shouldn't there be more to them than a simple story? Was Lord of the Flies about shipwrecked schoolkids, or was it a metaphor for the fragility of civilization?

Am I finding any of this so far? Not a chance, but that's not to say it's not in there. I'm not used to looking into my games for any deeper meaning. Hell, I thought The Catcher in the Rye was about an asshole, not some hidden discussion about childhood innocence and needing to grow up.

When Snake starts to question his identity, is Kojima (well in this case, Shinta Nojiri) saying that we never know who we truely are? That memories are just an amalgamation of what we think happened to us in the past? When Snake cries "No! Don't label me as Hans on the screen!" is he pulling an Animal Man on us?

I'm not sure I have the tools to figure that out. Maybe I'll have to play all the way through Metal Gear Ac!d² to get the whole story. As I said before, I'm not used to thinking about the deeper meaning of, well, anything really. But it's been sitting at the back of my mind a lot.

Well sheeet. I start writing a post about how enjoyable Metal Gear Ac!d is to me, and I veer off the road into book smarts land. I don't even want to get into how I've been feeling about Halo lately. I Love Bees indeed.

Here. Go look at a pit bull being cute with some baby chicks.

Currently Playing: Metal Gear Ac!d (PSP), Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (PS2), Pac-Man CE (Xbox Live Arcade)
Currently Reading: Far to many Wiki's

Ankle Injuries

2007-06-15T13:11:00Z

Man that is one catchy tune!

Currently Playing: Pac-Mac CE (Xbox Live Arcade), Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox), Metal Gear Ac!d (PSP), Crush (PSP), Puzzle Quest (DS)

KENYANS!

2007-06-07T16:26:58Z

Powerthirst Sports Drink Spoof - Watch more free videos

Best. Star Trek. Parody. EVAR

2007-06-07T01:24:47Z

Shiny, Shiny, Shiiiny

2007-05-22T18:45:32Z

Thank you EBGames. Thank you for your crazy ass trade in deal.

Not only did you trick me into a much needed purge of my game library, you gave me a free PSP in the process. With Loco Roco! I <3 you!

*Mmmmmwaaa!*

Not all is perfect in the land of Sony love, unfortunately. While they say that it will play mp4 files, the reality is that it's only very specific codecs. Now I'm currently on the hunt for a decent converter for the mac.

Over the course of the weekend I checked out iPSP, PSPWare, Handbrake, and MPEG Streamclip. No conclusions have been drawn yet, but I'll post my results soon.

What does work fantastically is MyTunesRSS. Super easy to set up, works brilliantly, and if port forwarding scares you, they've got a nice l'il work around built in for ya.

Currently Playing: Loco Roco (PSP), Wipeout Pure (PSP), Puzzle Quest (DS) (Yes, still!), Dead Rising (Xbox 360)
Currently Reading: Robotech: The Macross Saga: Battle Cry by Jack McKinney (hey, I've been distracted by all these good games. Shush!)

RAZR

2007-05-10T22:37:27Z

RAZR
Originally uploaded by Trachalio.

I have now entered the world of cameraphones (and myspace emo style self pics).

Be afraid. Be very afraid!

Jet Set Radiooooooooooo

2007-04-26T18:57:02Z

A few weeks back I won an eBay auction for the soundtracks to both Jet Set Radio (Jet Grind Radio here in North America) and JSRF: Jet Set Radio Future. Jet Set Radio's was a "CD-Extra" disc that came with a bunch of stuff: a video clip, some backgrounds, a calendar for 2000/2001, and papercraft. (squee!)

Now I love me some papercraft. Knowing that there was a papercraft Pots on the first disc may have influenced my decision to bid just a teensy bit. Being formatted for A1, I pulled it into Photomashop and jiggled it into our letter sized paper. Feel free to download the project and the reference image my fellow nerd crafters!

Humourous anecdote: The papercraft was in a directory on the disk labeled "P_CLAFT". Am I the only one thinking that's pretty damn funny?

Currently Playing: ~~cheating whorish AI~~ Puzzle Quest (DS), The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Xbox 360), (should be playing) God of War II (Playstation2), (but instead I was playing) Singstar Pop/Rock (Shaddup! Someone lent it to me!)
Currently Reading: That there Robotech book still.

Halo Whore

2007-04-23T16:50:55Z

To quote Ryan O'Donnell: "I'm Weak"

What you see is not one, but two, Halo 3: Legendary Edition pre-orders.

Now before y'all go callin' me crazy, there's a method behind this madness! Honest! I went to my favorite EB Games, but they already had 26 (twenty-six!) pre-orders in front of mine, so they couldn't guarantee me one. The next day I just happened to be in a Toys R Us and they only had 1 (just one!) other pre-order. I'm just maximizing the statistical chance of me getting one!

See, that's not crazy!

Totally not crazy!

Currently Playing: JSRF: Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox), The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Xbox 360), Puzzle Quest (Nintendo DS)
Currently Reading: Robotech: The Macross Saga: Battle Cry by Jack McKinney (yes, I know I'm a nurd. shut it)

Obey

2007-04-11T14:59:09Z

Original Image can be found on flickr.

My Xbox has a posse. Well, not so much a posse as it's own blog.

Currently Playing: Puzzle Quest (DS), Gears of War (360), Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360)

I Love You Mommy

2007-04-10T14:42:57Z

Via N'Gai Croal via GDC Radio

Oedipus. In 8 Minutes. In Vegetables.

Enjoy!

Currently Playing: Puzzle Quest (DS), Gears of War (360), Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360), Viva Piñata (360)

The Art of Wii

2007-04-02T13:16:25Z

Look at what my loverly furrytoe done did. He's gone and created an amazing ad campaign with Magic Pony and Nintendo of Canada: custom painted Wii's. With the lack of stock right now I think you have a better chance of winning one o' these puppies than you do finding one at your local Best Buy! Snap!

So, my Canadian friends, go and enter the contest!

Currently Playing: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Xbox 360), Gears of War (Xbox 360), Viva Piñata (Xbox 360), Puzzle Quest (DS), God of War 2 (PS2)