To quote a legend:

quote The Deathwind

We have blogs now? We have BLOGS now? We have frickin' BLOGS NOW?

Seriously, what the *bleep*? The start of Neo legitimacy decline started with the NeoWikis, and now, blog. Freaking blogs. But, as I did with the Wiki's, I will start to feed this catalyst with all of my might. So, welcome to the Demonfurry blog.

For my first bitch rant, wrestling sucks. When I was a wee 'lil one, I watched the fake- ehhem, I mean, "professional" wrestling. It was entertaining for a seven year-old. It gave me some violence that I thought was real that videogames didn't gave me. It introduced me to scantily clad women beating each other up. Plus, it gave me a boner from said women. Basically, it shaped me into the person that I am today, a loser fagot But I stopped watching when I learned it was fake.m I know, I'm petty. But now, last week or so, I signed up for real wrestling at my highschool. Get this, if you don't have a physical for the first meeting, they make you run laps for two hours. Now, I had no idea we were supposed to have a physical, so you can tell that I was ecstatic to be running for two hours straight with barley any water. Fun stuff. Plus, I signed up with a friend, who is in the same weight class as me, which is, fatass- I mean heavyweight. So, two fatasses running for two hours isn't enough for the bastard coach, he made botch of us get weighed in front of everyone. I clocked in at an amazing 220, while my buddy got 240. Don't get me wrong, we're not super fat, we both are at least 6 feet tall, him being 6'4, and we both start on the offensive and defensive line for our football team, but it was embarrassing nonetheless. So now, after I get home, I tell my dad I want to quit because all we did was run for a Satan-coach, but he already paid the fifty dollar fee for it. It has gotten better, we have actually wrestled, but all I get to wrestle is my fellow fatty. :|

musingsthoughts

You know what I don't get? I don't understand what makes life simulation games so fun. Games like Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing have no purpose; there are no immediate goals, there is no endpoint, and to be honest, there really is no motivation to do well in the game other than having the satisfaction of succeeding. You just... live. And yet this genre of games is wildly popular, and in my opinion very entertaining. Why is that?

What got me thinking about this was a game called Final Fantasy Chronicles: My Life as a King. My friend is addicted to this game, and I don't really understand why. Basically, you play as a new king who is trying to keep the town running smoothly. To do this, you run around town, and instruct people to do stuff, like fight monsters and learn new abilities.

...and that's it. You don't get to actually fight the monsters, and you don't get to use the new abilities. You just instruct people to do these things, and sit back and wait for the results. You occasionally get to build a new building somewhere in the town, but other than that your day consists of making orders and running aimlessly through the town, trying to find more people to give orders to.

Where's the appeal in that? You don't do anything except help your town grow. And you barely even get to do that, with only a few commands at your disposal. But I guess this is just one type of game in the Life Simulation category, which includes titles like Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing. And this is a genre which I am addicted to, and cannot figure out why.

Harvest Moon is a bit more structured than Animal Crossing, I guess, since you want your farm to succeed and you want to nurture it until it becomes a large farm with lots of animals and crops. Plus, you get to option to marry someone if you properly woo them. But to attain this goal you have to work, meaning that you will spend your days planting, hoeing, harvesting, selling, lather, rinse, repeat. Sounds pretty tedious, right?

Wrong. Not only is the Harvest Moon series very popular, it is also extremely fun to play. I remember renting Harvest Moon 64 back in the day, and playing it for hours on end. For some reason, I was completely immersed in this rural atmosphere before me, and I loved it. I could spend days planting carrots, selling carrots, eating carrots, whatever. There's some sort of charm that surrounds this genre, which is hard to understand considering the mundane premise of living life on a farm.

Animal Crossing is even less structured. You move into a town with a few animal neighbors, and your goal is to, well... uh... live? Honestly, there is no goal in Animal Crossing; you just play. You can fish, catch bugs, rearrange the furniture in your house, whatever. There's no real goal in Animal Crossing; the game only encourages you to have fun and live.

Sure, there are things you can accomplish. If you want you can try to collect every fish, bug, and fossil in the Museum. You can upgrade your house to the biggest available, as long as you pay off your mortgage. You can even upgrade the town store by simply shopping there. These may not sound like very fun goals to achieve, but remember that you don't have to do any of these things. If you want, you can spend your days planting new trees around the town and keeping it weed free.

And although I may describe it as being a boring game with little to do, I am absolutely enthralled by it; moreso than Harvest Moon even. I've spent an entire day running back and forth along the shore, fishing whenever I see the shadow underneath the water's surface. I've spent some days making a horror movie with my friend over WiFi (haha, that was a fun day). As long as you have the imagination to keep the game fun, the game will keep you entertained.

But why? Why are these games so entertaining? I've tried to find an answer to that question, and I can't. They seem so... basic. So mind numbingly boring. Without any real purpose, the games just seem like they would be unfun. But every time I pick the game up, I have a ball.

Maybe the lack of a purpose is what drives the games. Maybe because I have the choice to let the weeds grow in my town, it drives me to want to clean them up. Maybe because I don't have to pay off my mortgage, it drives me to sell fish to Tom Nook and get that bigger house. I don't really know. But whatever the case, the appeal of these life simulation games doesn't seem to be fading.

gaming related simulation harvest moon animal crossing

As far as I'm concerned, the introductory blog post doesn't really count as a post. Seeing as I hate leaving these things so sparce (though I suppose the advantage this has over my ill-fated LiveJournal is that this is all done through Neoseeker, which means less sites to remember to check and more tabs free for my TVTropes browsing), I figured I'd best get down to the bitching promised in the aforementioned introductory post.

First up, the media. Not the internet (this time), seeing as that'd be a whole blog post by itself (though I certainly plan to address one of my major gripes in this post) but the humble television.

Moreover, how much it sucks huge donkey bollocks. The cartoon channels for a start- they aren't as good as they used to be, I'm sorry. This could be just because I'm finally growing up, or it could be because childrens television just isn't what it used to be- though I must salute Fosters' after their little "stunt" on the Thanksgiving Parade. Then there's the rest of the telly- the soaps, the news, hell, even the documentaries once you've watched them all, and lets not forget reality TV. The soaps try too hard to be overly dramatic and just end up being unrealistic and, dare I say it, cheesey. The news only seems to fixate on the bad things- come on, we have all these stories about blood, guts and terrorism, what's the harm in the odd "PRESCHOOL TEDDY BEARS PICNIC GOES TO PLAN"? Sure, it might not be as exciting (read: ratings whore-worthy) as "101 KILLED IN TERRORIST ATTACK IN INDIA", but as things stand I can't help but get the impression that all that ever happens outside of my life is shit, shit and more shit. I mean, Jesus, I get my daily dosage of "SHIT IS HAPPENING" before I even turn on the frickin' telly.

Okay, before I write a whole blog of incoherent babble about the news, time to bitch about re-runs. God damn re-runs. This is the lesser part of my television-based ire, since I can appreciate that you can't constantly churn out new episodes of new series (unless you want them to be steaming piles of monkey bollocks, which I for one don't), so that one gets a breif reprieve for now.

Then we're onto the "reality" TV. Oh boy, I'm gonna have a field day with this. Reality TV doesn't exist. There is no way you can stick a camera anywhere without people trying to make themselves look good for it. Take Big Brother- the TV version, not the Neoseeker one (this time). It's not reality anymore, it's a group of corporate bastards sticking the most controversial group of people imaginable out of the "ZOMG I WANNA BE CELEBRITEE" volunteers into a house and passing the popcorn amongst themselves. And there are people that somehow find this crap entertaining, but hey, at least it's not another bloody rerun, right? Well, yes it is. It's the same crap with different faces each year. The worst part of it all is that my family watch this shit. Three months a year of utter bollocks- and then there's the other nine with slightly-less-utter bollocks. I'm sorry, I'm re-running with my terminology already, aren't I?

Time to move onto an issue that's probably closer to the hearts of the Neoseeker populace at the moment; memes. Pass the flame shields and shit deflectors, people, I'm probably going to catch some flak from the memetards among you for this.

Memes are not funny. This may sound hypocritical after I've saluted Fosters for their Thanksgiving stunt, but that's more out of me appreciating the song and tittering at the people rageing at being Rickrolled again. Yes, Rickrolling is a meme, but that's irre- okay, it is relevant. The point, however, is that memes are funny precisely one time. That is five million times less than I have seen some of the more notorious offenders here. No, it is not "Over 9000". In fact, the humor level of that meme is far UNDER 9000. No, you can not has cheezburger. No, I will not lol at your cats. Most importantly, no, I do not like Mudkips.

"BUT DEATHWIND, HOW DO YOU PROPOSE WE BE FUNNY THEN"

By using your damn brains and coming up with something original. If I can make a group of people laugh with what little wit I have left, so can you. Just... think a little. Humour comes much more easily than you'd probably think.

And last but not least, the giant robots.

"HEY DEATHWIND, WHATS THIS ABOUT GIANT ROBOTS???"

That, dear viewer, is one of those little bits of praise and happy fun time I promised to squeeze into the hall of rants. Or just plain nerdery, which given the subject matter here is very likely. Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 2, a Strategy RPG featuring... giant robots. Lots and lots of giant robots, from all sorts of mecha anime- or just the Banpresto (the comany behind SRT) Originals, seeing as those are the only mechs featured in the OG sub-series (the only ones that have ever made it out of Japan, owing to the HUGE lisencing costs). I could write a whole blog on why I find it awesome; the script- which unlike some other SRPGS with huge casts I could mention (hey Fire Emblem), actually gives everyone a decent amount of screentime-, the gameplay (always my biggest concern with games), and just how plain satisfying overkilling everything is. Just yesterday, I started EX-Hard Mode (the game's hardest mode, where the enemies actually get upgrades, you can't customise weapons and all the pilot upgrades cost twice as much), so I could get the happy-fun-time screwing around mode. Now, being the sort of person who would normally run away at the mere mention of the phrase "Hard Mode", it's honestly not as bad as I thought it would be. Until about 13 stages in, that is.

This particular stage is the only one I'm struggling with so far. In this stage, you have to protect a badly battered space battleship. From nothing stronger than a host of fighter jets. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. These jets are the most agile little buggers ever- think about 10-30% chance to hit one while they're set to evade attacks- which they will always be on your turns, much to my chagrin. The battleship starts horrendously damaged, and if it goes down, you start again. This battleship also takes a surprising crapton of damage from these jets- though that could be more me refusing to upgrade it since I'll only have it for a few chapters and wanting to save money for the ton of awesome I'll get later on, but hey-, and once you've sent all your mechs over to deal with the first 10-12 jets, another group swarm in to **** you up. That's as far as I get before they all butt**** me and I have to restart the episode.

And I am bloody loving the challenge. Every time you go through the game, a large amount of the money and Pilot Points (PP) you've collated over the course of the game is inherited in the New Game+ option, which then leaves me with everyone joining with enough PP to get all three of the essential skills at the start- on normal, anyway, where you only need 260 PP to get the "Big Three", whereas on EX-Hard (where skill costs are doubled) you need 520 (unless the character is awesome enough to have one of the Big Three inherently), something only about three or four of the cast have stocked up throughout my files. For the first time since my first playthrough, it's giving me a hard time and for that I am thankful.

And that's all that I promised with the title done. Next time I dare to think about anything other than how the hell I'm going to get through this game (29 stages left after this, and it only gets worse from here! =D=), you can expect me to turn my ire to the Internet, and possibly some bits of school. Maybe even a summary of the epic hell I've fought through OG2 by the next blog post.

Until then, live long and prosper!

musingsthoughts gaming related

Sent the application yesterday, so the team is in for the 2008 Neolympic Games! =)

I ran out of time trying to organise people and their events, so I hope i got this right:

Blackfalcon- NeoDuel

Whitefalcon- Poetry & Creative Essay

Sapphire Dragon- Digital Graphic Large Piece

ButchSmudge31- Halo 3 Match & Guitar Hero 3 Match

SpaceWalker- Creative Essay & Poetry

GLaDOS portal- Super Smash Bros. Brawl Match

Linkin Park Fan-Digital Graphic Large Piece

Kamikaze- Live Drawing & Photography

So there we have it. I guess now all we can do is wait! :)



neoseeker related

Image taken from Penny Arcade

Most of you have probably already read or heard news of all those people who got shot or trampled on Black Friday. Nasty business, that. Makes me sad, truly, but happens every year. Instead of building some kind of immunity, I'm still grossly appalled by it all. How callous do people need to be, to shove a pregnant woman hard enough so that her unborn child is killed, or to continue browsing holiday inventory after trampling a man to death?

Absolutely disgusting...

I got to experience Black Friday madness myself this year when a friend and her beau took me to the Cabazon Outlet, which about one to two hours (drive) from where I live. Seeing all those cars lining up on the freeway, waiting eagerly to exit and search for parking was something, but I was expecting more people to show up. A cashier at Converse told another customer that the day hadn't even begun yet, and that makes sense. We went to the outlet in the wee hours of the morning, meaning I didn't get a wink of sleep until 10:30 am (or so) when we finally made it back. I expected to knock out for a short nap then wake up and squeeze in some afternoon news writing, but instead I was passed out until nearly 6:00 pm.

Never again, never again.

At least I was educated in the ways of name brands and discovered that I really like Tumis. Regardless, I couldn't bring myself to blow half a month's paycheck on any article of clothing or accessory. Instead, I picked up a crudely made yet cool bag from a vendor for $26 exact. It's a little distressing to see people dropping money without a second thought though, as I witnessed countless times last night. But everyone needs a hobby, right?

Which is why I'm still offering my valuable time and money to Blizzard. I've written an editorial in the past about how annoying the grind to 80 was lookin', thinking I'd never get there. I haven't, but on-and-off leveling has taken me to 72 (as of a few minutes ago). I've respec'd Demonology for better soloing capabilities, and I honestly haven't seen my Felguard in months. But that's okay, I've still got points in Affliction, with which I have a rather bizarre obsession for.

Screw Destruction, this Warlock is an Affliction-woman through and through.

pc other musingsthoughts gaming related wow blizzard warcraft mmo penny arcade

Don't tell anyone but you-know-who told me he liked me today! Well, he didn't say it directly, but I know that's what he meant when he complimented my shoes today. Suzzie Q thinks I'm lying, but I think she's just jealous of my awesome My Little Pony lunchbox that my mommy bought for me. I think that's why she didn't share her chocolate milk with me. Suzzie Q always shares her chocolate milk with me, Bloggie! Some times when she's not in school because she's sick, I'll have to sit with Jason and he never shares anything! That's not very nice at all because I always share my sugar cookies. Next time Suzzie Q is out I think I'll sit outside so I won't have to sit next to stinking Jason! He's not like him at all.

I think we're going to get married one day, Bloggie. Not that he knows it...yet. He's still busy giving flowers to Jenny. Ugh, Jenny. Just because her hair is the color of the sun and mine's the color of boring old dirt doesn't mean anything! My mommy says that my hair isn't boring and that it's the color of chocolate but I don't think that she's telling to the truth. I tried tasting my hair and it didn't taste like chocolate at all! I bet Jenny's hair would taste like the sun. Maybe like Sunny D! I wonder if she can unleash the power of the sun. I sure hope not because that would make him like her even more! I mean, wouldn't you totally like the girl who could have the sun's super powers? I'm more like Pluto...not even a planet anymore! One day he'll wake up and realize that my My Little Pony lunchbox is way cooler than her Kim Possible one!

---

So, it's 2:45 in the morning and I just got back from a party. I've also realized that I am an absolute failure at being part of the corrupted youth of today. I am nowhere near hardcore enough to be a crazy partier. I think it's because I just don't give a shit and get no special thrill or enjoyment out of drinking (especially not beer). Therefore, parties where everyone gets trashed don't entertain me in the least. Well, that's not true. They don't entertain me when I'm with a large group of people I know. When it comes to random parties with complete strangers, then I don't mind it at all. Does that make me odd or anti-social? Oh, well. I remember back when I was 14 or 15 and I thought to myself "Yeah, you're going to be so cool and partying at least every weekend just like Gustavo (the older brother) did." Yeah, so much for that. On the bright side, I did stop by KFC and buy this delicious chocolate cake. If you've never had it and you don't mind consuming 1,800 calories, then I highly suggest it.

I may have to try The Jeans on soon to see if I should start running again. I can't possibly be the only person whose decision on whether they should go to the gym or not is based purely on how well a pair of jeans fit them. I've had this pair of jeans for some 3 or so years now and they've yet to fail me. If I can fit into them, I'm good. However, if I can't then it's time to go running. Which reminds me, I need to find my car keys since they have the little access pass thingy for LA Fitness.

Damn, I have to wake up in 4 hours to drive the little brother to his football (soccer) practice. Um, morning everyone!

musingsthoughts

I finally decided to really try tonight, and I managed to get the layout of my blog looking alright. To be honest, it looks like someone stumbled onto this page and threw up a nice range of different pink coloured bubble gum, but that's all part of the appeal. If you even like bubble gum that is!

Well, I don't really have too much to say honestly. I just wanted to brag about my not so amazing accomplishment, harhar.

Oh actually, there is something! Do any of you deal with UPS, or have you dealt with them in the past? I have heard some horror stories about them and I'd like to know if things went alright for you. As it stands now, a package that I was supposed to receive today never showed up, and when I tried to track it down online the website greeted me with:

"THE RECEIVER REQUESTED A HOLD FOR A FUTURE DELIVERY DATE. UPS WILL ATTEMPT DELIVERY ON DATE REQUESTED / DELIVERY RESCHEDULED"

Funny, considering UPS didn't show up today, and if they did someone would certainly have been home (and most likely not have sent UPS away to return on a later date! Hmmm).

musingsthoughts

So, I woke up at 11am and it's now 3pm (well, 5pm when I posted this). All in all, a rather short day.
I've managed to achieve the following so far:

• Start a blog
  
• Make a first blog entry
  
• Make a blog header
  
• Help my brother with Neoseeker's blogging
  
• Iron 6 shirts
  
• *bleep* around on MSN
  
• Make a second entry

Damn this day is roughly boring.

Ohh wait. Holy crap. It seems to be raining outside. And heavy winds as well. Might as well take a photograph to give you all an idea. Or better yet, a video. As you can see, it progressively gets more intense to a point where I felt like not getting any more wet than usual.

Aside from those instances, it's been pretty lackluster. I hope it'll pick up more tonight. Where as most of this afternoon has seen me bloggin'.

clothing faith fun ironing late crouchy musingsthoughts

So, I said I'd fill you all in on the changes I made to my PSP.
Well, here goes.

• Upgraded to Firmware 5.00 (Custom Firmware 5.00M33-3
  
• Installed .ctf files (Custom Themes)
  
• Got some freaking awesome MGS4 themes
  
• Got a GBA Emulator
  
• Got some pretty good Pokemon Fire Red hacks
  
• Bought myself Football Manager Handheld 2009

I would definitely reccomend this custom firmware. It's the bomb.
And for all of you viewing, here's what my two MGS4 themes look like. They're so damn sexy.

Although, I must say I find the 1st theme much more appealing and it is the one I have been using.

The MGS4 themes can be located here:
MGS4 Theme 1
MGS4 Theme 2

A reminder that these are for

Custom

Firmware 5.00 and above ONLY.

playstation portable gaming related mgs4 theme psp firmware pokemon

Well, many people have asked or even heard about my PSP story. Alas, it is a story that has put me through much angst over the past 2 months and I've been having to explain it constantly, as people have become confused over my immediate change of heart during this issue. Keep reading and you'll soon find out.

One cool Wednesday night - (22nd September 2008)

I was sitting in my room, the very same place that I now blogging from. As usual, I was playing around on the internet and on my PSP. Was getting pretty bored with the default theme so I decided to do a flash0 file change to give it a bit of pizzazz. I managed to change it without hassle. Success! Now it fits in with my Half-Life 2 wallpaper. But really, I didn't feel like keeping it at the time, so I tried to change it back. Then came the big mistake.
I stupidly decided to delete my flash0 files then re-transfer the originals which I had backed up. Stupid. I shouldn't have *bleep*ed around with it in the first place. So, once I had done that, I restarted my PSP.
A big blank screen.

"HOLY *bleep*! I JUST BRICKED MY *bleep*ING PSP!"

I then rushed to get my brother's PSP and tried to install a Pandora battery with it, to at least save my baby. I got as far as the installer, but the screen kept saying (Game could not be started).
I almost shit a brick.
After about an hour of mourning, I realised that the guy at school who had originally put custom firmware on it could probably help fix it. So I decided to put it in my bag and bring it to school the next day.

That Thursday morning - (23rd September 2008)

So I woke up, still pissed of at my PSP. Got ready for school as usually and caught the train there, as usual. Immediately I went searching for my friend (Ross, the PSP guy). I told him my predicament and he said he'd help out. Unbeknownst to me, this was one mistake I would not make again...

5 *bleep*ing weeks later - (26th November 2008)

After almost 5 god forsaken weeks away from my PSP, I had finally pester him enough to bring it to school to give to me, which I got that afternoon at the end of school. 5 weeks. I'd been getting excuses about him not having time or it just barely working, but I didn't expect it to take 5 weeks.
Upon receiving it, he cheerfully exclaimed that it was safe on firmware 1.50, so I happily walked off with my PSP to catch the train, whilst he sped off in his car. I turned it on, but nothing. it was still *bleep*ing bricked.
"Argh, *bleep*, how am I going to sort this out!? Never going to trust him again. At least I have my PSP back. At least!"
So, on the way home, with my bricked PSP in my bag, I contemplated my options for getting it fixed. It was a somewhat vast list:

Plan A - Get Ross to fix it
Plan B - Use brother's PSP
Plan C - Use other friends PSP
Plan D - Buy Pandora battery from eBay
Plan E - Send PSP to Ville_Valo

Within a few hours of deducing this list and talking to friends over MSN, I quickly eliminated. All plans but plan E.
"Shit, I guess I AM going to have to pay some moolah after all"
I started talking to Ville_Valo about the predicament. He offered to send over a battery instead of me sending my PSP. A good compromise only I didn't have any money. We also had a nice chat on the side as well. But, as I browsed youtube as well, some Pandora guides caught my fancy. I told Ville to just consider it, as i left the conversation (As he went to bed)
Looking at the vids, I was still determined to have another crack at Pandora'n it again. Too bad I didn't have a Sony 1gb stick. Luckily another friend did, so a quick chat help me to trade my Sandisk for his Sony. So, I was all set for one last try the next day, before all hope was lost.

A New Hope [Trademark LucasArt] - (27th November 2008)

Good ol' reliable Sean had my Sony 1gb ready and waiting. The day say me as anxious all through school. I got home as fast as I possible could. Began looking over my Pandora Guides, and getting all the firmware I need, as well as the special apps to use it. I began the arduous task at 4pm that afternoon, secluding myself in the study. A prompt 2 hours later (Due to the slowness of our only XP computer, which was required for the Pandora) I finally had my success.
I was ecstatic and overjoyed. I had fixed my PSP. I let it be known trough Neoseeker and MSN. Lots of people congratulated me and I thanked them, also thanking those who had so whole heartedly offered support and assistance. Thanks so much guys. Thanks to Machienzo (My Bro) letting me use his PSP in the process.

The following events

The following few days saw me make many changes to my PSP and play some of my long untouched and missed games. I would indulge on this, but it is better left for another blog...

psp twin_master brick sony pandora playstation portable musingsthoughts technology gaming related

I was browsing through the news on yahoo and I noticed something that I found a little funny. A 44 year old man apparently used the social security number of a three year old girl to register for phone and natural gas services. At first I laughed a little bit, but I soon came to the actualization that this is probably one of many times this has happened, but a certain Michael John Maris was one of the few to get caught.

Anyway, the story can be found here, or read below.

---------

GRAHAM, N.C. – Authorities say a North Carolina man used a Social Security number belonging to a 3-year-old girl to sign up for telephone and natural gas service. The News and Record of Greensboro reported Tuesday that 44-year-old Michael John Maris of Mebane was charged with one count of identity theft and two counts of obtaining property by false pretense.

Alamance County sheriff's officials said the child's grandmother, Linda Raker, contacted authorities after a collection agency began looking for unpaid utility bills in her granddaughter's name.

The sheriff's office said the suspect is related to Raker, but did not disclose the relationship.

Maris was being held Tuesday on $5,000 bond at the Alamance County jail. Court records didn't show that he had an attorney.


---------

Who knows, maybe he should have tried a 4 year old girl's SSN.

other identity theft crime

So I just got this NeoPM earlier today from Artificer which detailed how to create your own forum themes (a general guide for most moderators). It coincidently linked to one of his blog entries, which in turn introduced me to Neoseeker's new blogging system. So since then, I've been thinking of appropriate themes for my forum, Monster Hunter Freedom 2 (PSP). What do you think might be some good colour variations of the forum? I've also had the idea of having a forum competition, where one of the prizes may be that the forum member can create their own forum theme and have it implemented under their name. Thoughts on this also?

playstation portable neoseeker related forum themes mhf2

Champions Online publisher, Cryptic Studios, is offering for a while longer, a closed beta for the MMO.

quote Champions Online Forums

Los Gatos, CA – October 10, 2008 – Cryptic Studios™ announced today that players can now sign up for a chance to participate in the first closed beta for Champions Online™, an action massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) slated for release in the spring of 2009. This PC specific beta begins in mid-November 2008 and players sign up by visiting http://www.champions-online.com/preview_application.

“This closed beta is an exciting step in the evolution of Champions Online,” said Jack Emmert, chief creative officer for Cryptic Studios. “All of us here in the Cryptic offices have been playing the game for a while now, and we’re excited to invite others in to have as much fun with Champions Online as we’ve been having internally.”

Champions Online gives players the power of total customization for their hero experience while they explore a vast comic book universe. Gamers create their hero’s name, back story, costume, powers and abilities as well as design their own personal nemesis and his or her back story, which will guarantee a truly unique experience.

Champions Online is being developed by Cryptic Studios as a cross-platform project including PC and current gen console systems, and is published by 2K Games, the publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO).

To participate with the beta, users must register to the Champions Online site and apply for the beta.



This game is being published by 2K Games and will appear "exclusively" on the 360 and PC platforms. The game used to go by "Marvel Universe Online" and is in competition with the Sony exclusive, DC Universe Online, which will be released on the PC and PS3.

My personal presumption is that the initial name was dropped and "canceled" to gain some popularity for the idea and dredge up some more attention for Microsoft. Now they are potentially gaining the upperhand over DCUO by released the beta before SCEA can.

mmorpg online comics marvel dc comics playstation 3 xbox 360 pc gaming related

Mhm. This holiday season seems to be packed with zombie related releases, at least to me. One of the must buys though, was Left 4 Dead (PC and 360). With an amazing co-operative experience, it is hard to leave this game once you start playing. Up to four players can join together and assume the roles of Zoey, Louis, Bill, and Francis. These players then can roam across 20 maps and take on hordes of zombies, some very stupid and straight forward when it comes to dispatching them (the standard one), but others very tough and take a few shots to destroy (the tank).

When it comes to the single player experience, it is still fun. However, the teammates are a bit "slow" and take time to respond in situations when you are overwhelmed which can be a bit of a pain. The graphics, enemies, weapons, and controls make up for that.

With ten weapons:

Pump shotgun

Submachine gun

Assault Rifle

Auto shotgun

Hunting rifle

Pistol (dual mostly)

Molotov cocktail =D

Pipe bomb (has a nice flashing red light which attracts the horde like flies and kills them all)

Tanks (allow you to shoot them to burn through certain obstacles)

Three game-play modes:

Campaign

1. No Mercy
   
2. Death Toll
   
3. Dead Air
   
4. Blood Harvest

Single-player

Versus

The Infected:

"Common Infected" - The regular zombie that is just standing around, leaning on a wall, crying in a corner...

The Horde - The typical zombies...in large groups. These guys attack when you enter a certain area or trigger an event. When attacking they sprint towards the player and being slashing and pinning the player in the corner.

The Boomer - This big guy vomits on players when it attacks. This vomit attracts the Horde and blocks the screen temporarily. To destroy, knock back and shoot.

The Hunter - An agile zombie that crawls around on hands and feet and swiftly attacks the Survivors, pinning them to the ground. When pinned, if you are not saved, you lose your head!

The Witch - One of the stronger zombies, the Witch can sustain many gun shots and can quickly kill the Survivors with one hit. The Witch is provoked by gun fire and flashlights. Also provides a bit of fun when playing with friends :D

The Smoker -

The Tank - The largest of the infected. This guy hulks around and throws objects around trying to kill the Survivors. Only one or two usually appears per campaign.

Mods are soon to arrive:

Left 4 Winchester

Ground Zero Mod - Tentative title

Additional campaigns

Many new maps

1. Dawn of the Dead Mall
   

Sadly for those 360 owners out there, you guys get nothing :P. Mods are only for the PC counterpart which upon inserting the disc automatically begins installation of the Valve program, Steam (See "The Revolution to PC Gaming").

For the extreme gamer

There is even a ladder for Major League Gaming which can be found here.

Some other titles discussed this year

House of Dead: Overkill

Resident Evil 5

Dementium - The Ward

Dead Space (sorta?)

pc gaming related l4d steam xbox 360 multiplayer

Upon waking up this morning, I felt the lifting of my head from my pillow was a my arduous task then usual. Somehow, I managed to shuffle my self to the bathroom to quickly relieve myself, then promptly return back to my room. Only when I reached the door did my brother announce that Neoseeker had started blogs.
I pepped up a bit, feeling more awake, and decided to start my own. Having spent an hour just looking at styles I could choose, I came to my conclusion and started typing. I'm pretty sure it's quite bland right now, but sooner than later, it'll expand and become much better than what you see here.
More or less, this new blog feature is awesome. I am definitely hoping that over the next few weeks, I will be able to continue my blogging with the help of my beloved Neoseeker, and maybe along the way, interest others with my antics.

KEEP VISITING!

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My first matter of business. What should my blog posting style be? I am looking at the default colour black but I am not sure what size is necessary.
Give a shout out via comment to this blog on what you think is best.
Should I go with Size 1 or Size 2?

blog post twin_master exciting new neoseeker related