The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

So, looking for things to play that don’t require new purchases that might step on someone’s gift-buying shoes, I’ve been looking into DLC offerings. One thing that caught my eye was the fact that there were two cheap (I think like… 2 dollars of Microsoft Funmoney, maybe 2.50) DLC campaigns for Band of Bugs. I thought Band of Bugs was a pretty nice little game, back when I first got it. It was an interesting quick and dirty Tactics clone that you could pick up and play easily, so I got one of the two campaigns. I, uh, apparently bought the second one first, though, but since the plots are unrelated, I suppose that’s not too horrible.

The Campaign I got was Ninja Sticks of Fury, which added a stickbug ninja class to the game, as well as snow levels. The pack was less meaty than I was hoping. I apparently retained most of my skills from playing through the original campaign, because I only had to restart twice as I played through it. I got maybe 4 hours of gameplay out of it. Still, that’s not TOO bad of a cost/value ratio. I spend 2 bucks on caffeine drinks everyday, and they probably don’t give me as much enjoyment.
The ninja class itself is kind of overpowered, I suppose. They have the weapon choices and movement of the mosquito thieves but a double-attack similar to the Mantis royal guards. If they get hit twice in a row, they’re screwed, but they can take out just about anyone with one hit after you get them above… what… level 5? Whenever they get the dual-attack. Still, their ranged weapon isn’t nearly as useful as the Mosquito’s crossbow. It does shit for damage against higher level enemies. Still, the flexibility to switch is nice.

Overall, I could probably recommend this? I mean, I am pretty sure I’m going to buy the other campaign before Chrissymas, so obviously it didn’t deter me. But I dunno, be warned that it isn’t some expert-level super-campaign. It’s not that hard. It’s just more levels. If you wanted more Band of Bugs, go for it.

Thank god.

I mean, my time as an intern was a nice time as an intern. I really have no complaints. It’s just that it was the one thing that threw me over the top on stress. It amounted to a second job, and if anything, I learned I am not a person who can easily handle holding down two jobs. It was so stressful.

But now it’s over! Overall, it was a really, really positive experience. I learned quite a bit, and I got experience that I can wave in employers faces (and I will. Ooooooh yes, I will.) but mostly, what I got was a supreme shot of confidence.
There was always this kind of… odd feeling that “sure, I can do this, but I can’t do anything real” or whatever. A feeling that my skills, though seemingly applicable to actually jobs, weren’t. That there was something they needed to be pushed up into the “real” category. I can now easily state that that isn’t the case at all. Everything I did I already knew how to do, and I did a damn good job of it. DAMN good. I am a GREAT working, and an asset, and I deserve to be hired and I will do a good job. I have no doubt in my mind that I am qualified. Was it silly of me to be doubting it before? Probably. But I’m glad that it’s behind me anyway.

One more paper, some finals, and then one more semester. I can do this shit, and then I will get a good job, a good therapist, and be a happy, happy person. Yes.

My dad just sprung an early surprise Christmas gift on my mother: A new Dachshund puppy. She’s a girl this time, black, and has a bit of long hair in her. She is adorable. I’m frustrated that I don’t have any time to really get to know her until Thursday.

What? Cute puppy pictures? Like this one? Or this one? Or this one? Sure, I got those.

Yeah, this kind of came out of nowhere, but I have to admit, I’m excited about having a pet around the house again. I still miss Frisky sometimes, but it’s kind of past the point where I need to move on. And my mom is, honestly, kind of lonely around the house sometimes in her retired state. This is a great thing.
No name yet, though. We’re waiting on Mom for that. It’s her puppy. Dunno what she’ll come up with, but hopefully it’ll be good. Heh.

More on this as it develops.

So, on Thanksgiving, my mother had a secret activity. This activity came about when I told her about the game “You’re In The Movies” and she got so excited that she immediately thrust money into my paw and told me to go and buy it and keep it a secret. So we played and made two movies that day. And no, I’m not going to show you, because then you would see me, and I would be embarrassed. You’d have to beg.

In any case, the game is exactly what I thought it would be. It’s not a horrible experience, especially if you, you know, don’t act too cool for it and really get into it and ham it up. Also, it is the kind of game that my parents find amazing. Like, to the point where my mom is wanting to borrow my Xbox 360 so she can play this with her brother, and whatnot. She. Loved. It. And my dad had a great, great time too. And I had fun. And I think Jonathan and his ladyfriend had a decent time as well. I mean, the premise is solid. Green-screening people into movie trailers makes for a funny, awesome time if everyone plays long. It’s a solid evening of entertainment.

It has some problems, though. First off, I think the price is ridiculous. It should be $40 WITH the camera, MAYBE $50. Why? Because those people who would find this game exciting (aka my mom) aren’t going to have a game console at all, or if they do, they’re going to have a Wii, not a 360. So basically, this game is depending on the hardcore buying this to play with their non-gamer friends and family. You need the game to be budget-priced to draw in that kind of crowd. I NEVER would have picked up this game if my mom hadn’t paid for it, you know?
The other issue is the technology. Instead of a green screen, the game basically takes a picture of the room without people, and then uses that to determine where the people are. It works… okay, but it’s easily confused. Parts of people’s body can disappear at random. It can ruin an awesome, funny clip made when Jonathan’s head is missing sometimes, for instance. It should have worked better.

Still, overall, if you have a camera, this would seem like the perfect game to rent while visiting parents for Christmas or something like that. A group of non-gamers with a gamer guide could have hours and hours of fun with this game. Still, as far as a purchase goes…? Well, I’d wait until it drops a lot, which it probably will.

So the other day I finally found that this stupid thing I’ve been wanting to try is finally in open beta, so I can try it. That thing is PMOG, or Passively Multiplayer Online Game. It’s basically a Firefox extension that you install and then it attempts to turn the simple act of browsing into a game. It sounds potentially lame AND potentially awesome, and I’m proud to report that, so far, it’s been pretty awesome.

Basically, you get two datapoints for every new domain you visit in a day. These datapoints are experience AND money. What basically happens is, as you move around the game, you get money, and you use the money to buy the tools to let you do the stuff that you want to do. As you do whatever you feel like doing by using these tools, you level up in different aspects based on what you do the most in the game. You can leave crates on websites to leave people gifts, set up portals to teleport people to other places when they go to a website, lay mines to damage people who come to a website, equip armor to protect yourself from mines, deploy St. Nicks to keep people from laying mines, and finally, set up lampposts as the links in building a mission.
Missions are basically guided tours of certain topics. I saw one that showed me a bunch of iPhone/iPod Touch games, for instance, where I found out about this. So as you’re browsing a site on a topic, the game will pop up a mission that goes to that page, which you can accept if you want to find out more stuff. It’s actually pretty damn cool. Alternatively, you could find a gift there from someone, or you could get mined for going there, or whatever. You can set up your own themed missions to guide people through things, or leave gifts for awesome people who visit the same websites you do. Hell, you can even work for browsing achievements for going to certainly websites religiously.

If this sounds lame, well, you probably won’t like it. But if it sounds vaguely interesting, I highly suggest you join. And then add me as a friend. This is my profile. I’m going to keep on leveling up, and I’m sure I’ll tell you if things get better as I unlock more stuff. I’m trying to mostly be a Benefactor and leave gifts and whatnot, because I hear eventually you can get puzzle boxes where you can add trivia questions and stuff that people have to answer to open them and get the goodies. Also, I just enjoy giving out stuff. See, say, my Pouch of Many Lost Things love.

So, on my way home from interning, I saw a guy in front of Little Caesars wearing a Little Caesars’ mascot costume. It was actually a pretty good costume. He even had a spear prop with a little pizza stuck on it. But still, it was kind of weird to see.
This begs the important question, “What the fuck?” Then, it begs the more interesting question, “why would they pay someone to wear that?”

I mean, has a mascot costume like that ever convinced ANYONE to go somewhere? My immediate reaction when I see someone in such a costume is “Wow, they’re actually paying someone to do that? Crazy.” It just doesn’t seem like a good idea. Then again, what was that number in my press class? That the average person needs to notice a brand or a product about 14 times before they consider buying it? These sort of costumes certainly draw the eye and make you notice them, I guess. And I mean, if it works, more power to them. Keep paying that guy.

Still, the whole idea doesn’t sit easy with me. Maybe it’s the furry in me, but I really feel like if you’re going to wear a costume, you have to have an affinity for it, whether it be a fursuit, where you’re bringing out the inner you, or something like cosplay, when you’re doing it for an extreme love of what that costume represents. I mean, I’m a huge fan of Little Caesar’s Pizza (Well, mostly of the cost to quantity of food ratio. There are countless better pizza places about, but none with such convenience or price.) but I would never be able to be excited about being in that costume. And you know the person in there isn’t excited, either. It just seems so wrong. There’s no way it could work out.
I mean, I remember an article I read about a guy who was working at Disney World as someone in a Jack Sparrow costume, and talking about how excited he was to take the job, and how extremely rigorous the rules and application process for such a job was, to be sure that they got people who walked around in costume that were excited about it. That’s the way to do it, you know? That’s what makes costumes, and being around people in costumes, fun. That’s how you gotta do it.

I am likely thinking way, way too much about a stupid little thing, however.

What the fuck am I getting people for Chrissymas?

I mean, I guess, here’s the checklist I always do.
Jonathan: Half-Check (I got an idea already, but who knows)
Mom: No Check
Dad: No Check
Grandma: No Check
Grandpa: Half-Check (Have a plan, just have to pick it up)
Brer: No Check (Have some possible expensive ideas but I dunno)
Friends Gift Exchange: ??? (Are we doing that? What?)
Festivus Gift Exchange: Mostly Check (Plan still requires some work, but I mostly just have to send stuff out)

But seriously, I feel like I normally have some ideas, or I have, you know, time to wander about in malls and stuff until I get ideas? But I totally don’t have time. I’ve been too busy. TOO BUSY. Ugh. Maybe after Finals, but then it’s too late if I need to order something online… it’s… not optimal.
I really need to get brainstorming. I really do. Hm.
The important thing, though, is not to let myself get stressed. I’ve done such, such a good job this semester of staying on the ball and doing things the right way. I can keep this going, and hell, I can roll it straight into Chrissymas shopping. Really.
No, really.

So I finally got around to playing through Penny Arcade: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode 2. The experience was significantly enjoyable. The original game has one major conceptual problem and one stupid problem that bothers me. Surprisingly, for this episode, they fixed the major issue and not the stupid problem.

The major problem with episode 1 was the fact that there was like 2 locations and you went to them like 30 times over and over again with new monsters on fetch quests. That was really not cool. The writing was up to Penny Arcade’s awesome standard, and the combat was surprisingly engaging, but the story, being a series of fetch-quests, was less than compelling.
They really fixed that with this game. Granted, there was maybe one more area than in the last game? But they make you go to them in an intelligent fashion. Instead of doing one thing, and then being sent on a quest, and then doing that, then being sent on another quest, you start with one objective, which slowly balloons much more naturally until you have a bunch of inter-connected quests, each of which requires going from area to area several times, but you’re doing it to figure out how to comply with the odd quests you’re given in a much more organic way, so it’s much, much less annoying, and actually makes the whole game feel more… significant. Well, that and some of the story.

Hey, this next two paragraphs have plotish spoilers, so… skip that, if you want. Until the next empty line.
The game did some very, very awesome things with Penny Arcade-style cameos and reusing of characters from the last episode. The killing off of basically every character you met in last and this episode so quickly and at random was actually a fairly effective storytelling device. I’m not connected to these people in the same way that I’m, say, connected to my dog in Fable 2, but in most of the episodic games, once a character shows up, they keep reappearing, because it’s easy to do and effective. Seeing these people again made it seem like the pee doctor and whatnot would be coming back again and again. And then bam. Dead. All bets were off, and they made it clear that they are going to make the story they want, no matter what, and nobody is really safe in this world. It was nice, and also fit with the crazy-ass brutality of the world, as well. Villains in the world they’ve created WOULDN’T just walk in and give a speech. They really would kill everyone. If this is a world where I can murder random annoying people with gardening tools, the villain can totally destroy every single person he wants to.
I also got really, really excited when I met Dr. Raven Darktalon Blood. His assist attack was effective, but nothing like what I was expecting. Then, at the end of the game, the preview for the next episode made it damn clear that he’s going to be an important part in it. I. Can’t. Wait. He’s just a hilarious concept that could be rolled into this game so, so well. I really can’t wait to see what happens.

The stupid little thing they didn’t fix was the fact that the text is barely, barely readable on an SD TV. It is hurt my eyes small. I was hoping they would fix that before the next episode, and they did not. Stupid bastards, a lot of people still have Standard Def! Stop being dicks! Still, it didn’t ruin the game overall. It was just annoying.

But yeah, still, this game was fun times, and I’m signed up for the other two episodes, especially now that they dropped the price per episode to the more palatable $15. I mean, if you like solid, Mini-game and timing based RPG combat and Penny Arcade’s writing style, you really can’t go wrong. Really.

So, it’s Turkey Day. The day when we celebrate the ability to get three strikes in three consecutive frames…
No, wait…

It’s a wonderful family-based day where we eat too much food and don’t have to go to work or school. Sweetness.

I’m actually sort of looking forward to a day with the parents, especially since Mom and I have this “Secret Activity” planned that I am HOPING will be fun for everyone, though the game got some mediocre reviews. But more on that in the future. I’ll write a review.

Anyway, I hope you have a good day. And for you Canadians who read this who’ve already had a Thanksgiving? You should have had it on the right day. Or something.

So it’s finally cold enough to get out my Slanket. Is that good? That’s probably good. I like a warm blanket, and dammit, this has sleeves. AWESOME SLEEVES.
At Kohl’s, though, there are off-brand Slankets! For much cheaper than I paid! OH NO! Half price! Are they as good? I don’t know. It’s fucking warm and awesome in any case. So I’m not going to be sad. Still, if you must have a blanket with sleeves and cannot pony up for what the website calls THE BEST BLANKET EVER IN ALL CAPS then, well, better an off brand, eh?

Oh maaaaaan, they have a nice green now. They didn’t have that color before. Not fair. Mine is Ruby Wine. I don’t even drink wine. Still, I couldn’t even pretend to justify getting one of a different color. Not when there are, say, awesome T-shirts out there I haven’t gotten yet.

…anyway, what was this supposed to be about?

Oh, it’s cold now, so I get to get out my Slanket, and I get to get out my coat, which I really like, though I wish it didn’t have those bullshit shoulders. When I move out, I am getting me two badass trenchcoats or something, a light one and a heavy one, and it will be totally sweet. Maybe. Hell, I don’t know. Do they make trenchcoats in lime green? Bright yellow?

But anyway, yeah. It’s cold outside. Have you been outside to see for yourself? Cause it’s cold. I’m a fan of cold. Well, more a fan of cold than hot. Yep. Still, no matter how cold it gets, I’m unlikely to switch from sandals without socks for footwear.
Yep.
I’m kind of ridiculous sometimes.
But I’m warm and happy in my Slanket, so nya nya nya.