Monday, June 16, 2008

A Weekend of Conan, Fathers, Hulk, and Wordpress + (A Secret)

Busy and fun weekend this week.

Played a bit of Conan and made my way nearly to 44 in the process. I've got more quests than I can handle and actually had to delete a few from my log because the area I am in (Noble District of Tarantia) is filled to the brim with quests. I'll have to visit the Fields of the Dead soon to re-obtain said deleted quests.

But the fun in Hyboria was dampened by a memory leak that's reared its ugly head on Vista 32 systems again. It starts off fine but becomes nigh-unplayable about an hour in. The mini-map and main map lose their textures becoing nothing but gray spots and that's when you know the game's about to crash.

Before I went to bed last night I used a CMD command to enable Vista to fully use all 3GB of RAM and if it works I'll post that command later. If you're the impatient sort, check the tech support forums for Conan, as it's posted there in a sticky about the memory leak issues.

Spent Saturday night at a cookout for my father-in-law, and chatted with my own padre for a bit on Sunday thus fulfilling my duties as a son on Father's Day. At my in-law's we watched 30 Days of Night which was... god awful really. I don't really feel like wasting my breath as to why it was, just don't see it if you haven't already. Trust me.

Thank Jeebus though that on Sunday my wife and I went to see the Hulk. We expected little from this one, due to the previous attempt at bringing Bruce Banner's alterego to the silver screen. Luckily, we were absolutely enthralled with what Edward Norton and Louis Leterrier put together. I won't spoil anything, but if you too are afraid after the Eric Bana Daddy-Issue edition of the Hulk, forget all about that movie and go see this one. If you were a fan of the Bill Bixby TV series, go see the Incredible Hulk. If you're a fan of the comics, go see the Hulk. If you're a fan of the Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story go see this movie. If you're a fan of action, go see this movie. If you just want to see a good movie... go see it.

Marvel, now with all its franchises in its own hands, is doing it. They really are. They're bringing the Marvel Universe together. The Avengers is coming in 2011, preceded by both a new Captain America movie and a Thor flick. And what's more is that they're pulling in extremely good talent (Norton in Hulk, Downey in Iron Man) and then bringing them all together too. It's like a wet dream for any fan of the comics. These heroes, these Greek Gods of the American Age are coming to life in a way I never thought would happen.

Now we just need someone to relaunch the X-Men series in 5 or so years and wipe that horrid taste of X3: The Last Stand out of our mouths.

Lastly, I spent a few hours last night building my own theme from scratch in WordPress. I'm doing a small job for client right now that involves WordPress, and it's inspired me to create my very own blog on that platform. In a few weeks or months (depending on the time it takes me to get it all done among my other responsibilities) I'll be migrating to WordPress. Ye've been warned, gar.

Oh yeah, the secret. Well, I can't say much. But I will say that what I saw this weekend has me very excited. I don't mean to be tease, but then - of course I do. When I can talk more, I will. Gamers who read this blog (and I know that's all of you) should be very excited for what's on the horizon.

13 comments:

Werit said...

Hmmm, Games Day 2008 was this weekend... that have anything to do with the secret?

Bildo said...

Nope, because if I was in Baltimore, I could talk about it.

No Warhammer for me yet, sorry! :)

Anonymous said...

When you do move to wordpress, be sure to check the spam filter, that's where 99% of my comments end up.

Most people have learned this, but some (Darren...) still filter me regularly.

That said, wordpress is sweet, I've had no issues with it.

Bildo said...

Thanks for the tip, Syncaine.

I do dig the ease of Blogger, but the flexibility of WP is too alluring.

Elementalistly said...

Level 43 in AoC myself...we are moving at about the same pace it seems...
But, this explains it simpley...the Casuals get AoC...

If Funcom had been smart enough, they would have catered more to that crowd..

The facts are that Casual gamers are a larger population at this time...they can afford the hardware the game demands as they are usually upper middle class, are above 30+, and have patience, as their whole lives have been about patience (i.e: meaning a lot have kids...lol)
But, going after the hardcore with the PvP is kicking them in the ass...and the majority of whiners on the boards are the power gamers...
Sad really..

As to the Hulk...Ed Norton is really being a jerk about the movie though
And has good reason
Norton Vs. Marvel to be displayed
So...he may not be back...unsure at this time..
Lets hope so, as this will be an awesome setup if they can pull this off...
Cheers

Trippin Ninja said...

The rumor mill is saying Marvel isn't willing to pay John Favreau what he wants for Iron Man 2 or Avengers. I pray they work something out. While Downey was a big reason for Iron Mans success I think getting rid of Favreau would be a huge mistake. Insert some lame-o director and everything could go sour really quick.

Unknown said...

"Lastly, I spent a few hours last night building my own theme from scratch in WordPress. I'm doing a small job for client right now that involves WordPress, and it's inspired me to create my very own blog on that platform. In a few weeks or months (depending on the time it takes me to get it all done among my other responsibilities) I'll be migrating to WordPress. Ye've been warned, gar."

Thank GOD.

Hehe I like commenting over here but Blogger makes me log in using my old, obsolete Blogger ID or my wordpress domain, which I don't have since I host my own.

On a plus note, once you have everything set up I find wordpress to be easier than blogger even since it doesn't make you jump through any hoops. I have been using the Akismet add-in for spam posts and haven't found but one post on the wrong side of the filter (either good or bad.)

I'd encourage you do migrate as soon as you have time, you won't regret it. I certainly haven't.

Bildo said...

Odd, you'd think of all people Marvel Studios would know what's at stake when cutting a director or anyone important out of a successful series mid-stride.

As in... X3: The Last Piece of Crap.

Here's hoping they can sort out both the Favreau thing and the Norton thing. Because I really can't imagine either franchise going forward without these two people.

Bildo said...

@Genda:

As soon as I have a general look I'm cool with, I will be.

I'd also like to migrate all the posts here to there, but that feature I can't get working. The connection times out when I try to.

Gamer Hudson said...

Hey speaking of Comics, I picked up Civil War graphic novel that contains content for Civil War 1-7 and man that is awesome.

Spent most my time Saturday in the Warhammer Beta and I cancelled Conan sorry to say Bildo :(

But Ill see you in Middle Earth Thursday night

Bildo said...

Warhammer Beta... most of your time... hmm, sounds like things are going good there.

Indeed.

Yeah, Conan's not for everyone. You either love it or hate it I think, much like LotRO is perceived.

Luckily, I like both. :)

See you Thursday for sure.

Sarzan said...

I think I will stick with AoC for a bit. It's nice they are letting you level fairly fast early on (I am in the mid 20s atm) or I think I would start getting bored. Aside from the initial part, first 20 levels, the quests so far seem pretty much like the generic questing molds.

I really kind of dig the arcadeish combat and the fact that the combos change as the skills move up in rank. At least this seems to make it like you really learning a new skill. I would imagine that once you max at 80 it will be like all the other games, the same old repetition.

Off to get a mic for this thursday's outing. Otherwise, I will have to be your '...mute traveling buddy...'. See you all on the other side of the final into area instance!

Elementalistly said...

@hudson

Now...how long ya gonna last in THAT game...lol

Lets see...EQ2...2 months?
LOTRO at first...1 month?

OMG ..I have lost count...hehe

You sir suffer from extreme MMO burnout..
Time to give it a rest.