Self-Imposed Exile

My friend made a zombie game with a few others at a local game jam. You can try the game just below!

Congrats to Tom Terrill, Ryan Seiff, HG Lee, Kiyoshi Okuma, and Clifton Hill for making this game in just a few hours.

I live in a city of filth and awesomeness. I think I captured her soul w/ these shots.

What food would you miss most if you were sent to prison for the rest of your life?
Sponsored by “Inside Guantanamo” on National Geographic Channel. Premieres Sunday at 9P et/pt. 

Delicious, fresh, non-prison cafeteria sushi.

What story of personal greatness, achievement or success would your co-workers or friends be surprised to learn about you?
Sponsored by Nature Made.

I went to college weighing about 240 pounds and was a size 38, sometimes 40. At the beginning of my sophomore year I weighed 175 pounds and was a size 32, all because of riding my bike and cutting out fast food. I had a lot of fun in college cycling and losing all the weight (in a healthy way) had a big impact on my confidence.

It's a bit crazy seeing so much coverage on The Sims 3, especially when I was the one they spoke to. Some fun stuff...

Bay Area Arts and Entertainment Preview

Gamer Vision Video Interview

Game Girl Preview

Kotaku Preview

I cannot wait for the game to finally ship.

I checked this week's releases and I realized I'll have three new RTS games by Wednesday. I picked up Relic's Dawn of War 2 last week at GoGamer.com's ridiculous sale. Empire: Total War has been pre-ordered since Christmas and I pre-ordered Halo Wars last week after finally trying the demo. I'm not sure where to begin with what's probably my favorite type of game.

I think DoW2 will have to take a back seat to start. I wasn't too impressed w/ the Beta. It crashed constantly (a bug they supposedly fixed) and I thought the complete lack of base building or detailed tech tree really hurt the experience. I also really missed the prevalent cover found in Company of Heroes and how well the destructable environments were integrated. I was hoping for Dawn of War + Company of Heroes and I feel like I got a bastardized middle ground. Granted, I haven't tried the Diablo-esque single player (and co-op!) which is where I hear the fun is.

Empire: Total War is something I've wanted forever. I love the time period. Muskets, bold and dashing naval warfare, colonies that span the globe, revolution and early democracy, Napoleon, Wellington, Washintgon -- there's so much great history. The Road to Independence will probably be my jumping off point but I cannot wait to play as the Prussians. The Indian theatre will also hopefully be excellent. I really have to thank Bernard Cornwell for his Sharpe series which has really pushed Empire to the forefront of my mind and imagination these past few months.

Then Halo Wars, the fabled "good console RTS." As a developer I think it's an awesome challenge to find a way to bring the staunchest PC only genre to the game pad. It's always been incredibly difficult to make Sims games for the console and the more combat oriented RTS is no different. I liked the demo and I am looking forward to Ensemble's last game.

If only I could get out of crunch mode...

If you had to teach something, what would you teach?

I would teach history in a heart beat. I have day dreams about showing up to class dressed as Napoleon or Abe Lincoln. I would also love to use some video games (Empire: Total War, Company of Heroes, Call of Duty 2) to show the intensity of some of the worst conflicts in history. I think it'd also be fun to discuss history an analyze it, instead of just reading from a book, forcing memorization, and handing out worksheets.

id has made their web browser-based re-envisioning of Quake 3: Arena, Quake Live, available for anyone now. It's definitely worth checking out, not just because it's free and fun, but I think you'll start seeing a lot more games just like it.

The ease of entry is awesome. You go to the website, download a super quick app, then you're there. After that you simply need to type in 'quakelive.com" just like you would Facebook or YouTube. The game feels and responds great -- you would not really know you're in a browser.Sure, it's a really old game, but 8 vs. 8 CTF and Deathmatch on any web-browser is not too shabby.

Battlefield: Heroes is now in closed beta. It's taking a similar approach: classic FPS gameplay, free to play, supported by ads, and unlike Quake, DLC. I'm very curious to see how far the industry pushes this browser game idea. We could soon see a throwback to more simpler times in real-time strategy, or even better, some Dialbo-styled action. Flagship tried to do this with Mythos but it never quite made it off the ground.

I like the idea of fun, simple games that don't cost a fortune to make.

We finally finished Season 5 of The Wire, bringing it and the entire series to a close. We've been watching this show for quite some time (approximately 60 hour long episodes total) and I'm very sad to be finished with it. I'll definitely re-watch it, though I may need to let the series breathe for a few months.

The Wire seems more like a sociological experiment than a work of fiction. I'm not from Baltimore, nor have I ever lived or worked on "the streets." That being said, the events and characters portrayed in The Wire felt so real that I have no choice but to believe it's possible. If not actually happening.

Whether it's our failing schools, corrupt political/justice system, or ineffective policing, The Wire forces you to think about the world in which we live. How do we solve the drug problem? How do we keep inner-city kids off street corners? A guy on Colbert the other night is suggesting we pay kids $50 for every A they receive on every report card. Will that work?

The world will never hurt from more shows like The Wire. It's well acted, brilliantly written, asks hard questions, and never ever wasted a second. I only hope the writers/creators bring us something new shortly.

Openly keep, store away, or toss completely? What do you think should be done with past gifts from old flames after you've broken up and are with someone new?
Submitted by miy6ko.

 It ultimately depends on what your new relationship needs. If your new significant other doesn't care or doesn't notice, well you can maybe keep them. If he/she does, you should definitely throw them away. But more importantly, you need to think about them in relation to YOU.

If these still hold sentimental value to you...that's a problem. Your focus should be on your new relationship. If it isn't, you shouldn't be with this new person as it isn't fair to them. Ultimately I think it's best to get rid of these things. If it's a CD, keep it. If it's a mixed CD, throw it away.