As I work towards completing my courses in web design and development, with graduation drawing ever nearer, I’ve got a side project going on for a wife’s coworker. He’s an independent musician and singer, and he wants a new site for all the services he offers from videography to photography to live music. I’ve already made him a new word mark logo, a business card, a 4 by 6 flier and a tri-fold pamphlet, but now comes the harder part: a full-featured site.
It will be my first.
The idea is to have a nice flash intro with footage of him in action, and then an option for a basic HTML/CSS page or a sporadically Flash-flavored page. Originally we were going to go with a blog-style format, but he’s decided he’d rather just link off to his MySpace page and then back to his professional page. So I think we’ll be using the page I build for showcasing his materials and services… which makes my job a whole lot easier and I should be able to focus solely on design.
What’s the point of this post?
1.) I don’t have much to write about today or at all lately in the MMO world.
2.) And I am hoping that some fellow bloggers with knowledge about web design might be able to give me some words of wisdom, or lessons learned as I ramp up into actually designing my 1st full site that’s not just plain old HTML.
So blagosphere… whatcha got for me? Out of the 5 of you who stop by, I’m sure one of you has some perl (pun intended) of wisdom to give unto me.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The Little Things
I recently got hooked up to Xbox Live at home, and I also bought Madden 2008 on the cheap. I know, I'm becoming a regular frat-boy aren't I? I blame the joy of a new console.
Anyway, last night I found a feature in Madden that hooks me up to constant sports updates. Now, I'm not big on sports. I barely follow them, but I have to admit the idea of getting ESPN Radio updates every 20 minutes via my football videogame is very cool. It has me wondering how many more games are missing out on this opportunity. Sports games make the most sense for the ticking news updates, and EA's Radio updates are fantastic. I kept track of the NBA games while playing Madden last night... no switching back to TV necessary. That has to be a boon for your more faithful sports fans.
But imagine if MMOs put in an optional real world news filter, or filters, that let you choose what topics you want to be kept up to speed on. I know a lot of folks would hate the immersion factor being ruined, but I know I would dig a feature like that. I can get lost in MMOs, and often feel like I'm missing out on the rest of the world's events when I'm sucked into one for an evening. For my personal taste, a news ticker or something along those lines that was optional would be fantastic.
Ye or ne for you and why?
Anyway, last night I found a feature in Madden that hooks me up to constant sports updates. Now, I'm not big on sports. I barely follow them, but I have to admit the idea of getting ESPN Radio updates every 20 minutes via my football videogame is very cool. It has me wondering how many more games are missing out on this opportunity. Sports games make the most sense for the ticking news updates, and EA's Radio updates are fantastic. I kept track of the NBA games while playing Madden last night... no switching back to TV necessary. That has to be a boon for your more faithful sports fans.
But imagine if MMOs put in an optional real world news filter, or filters, that let you choose what topics you want to be kept up to speed on. I know a lot of folks would hate the immersion factor being ruined, but I know I would dig a feature like that. I can get lost in MMOs, and often feel like I'm missing out on the rest of the world's events when I'm sucked into one for an evening. For my personal taste, a news ticker or something along those lines that was optional would be fantastic.
Ye or ne for you and why?
Monday, January 28, 2008
A Massive Thrusting Purchase
My office-mate is prone to some very colorful commentary. Sayings like, "I'm boning for that new Rambo movie" are commonplace. Over time spent in the same office as him I find myself adopting his language here and there. When I'm all about something, I now refer to it as "jocking" whatever it is that I'm really into. It could be said, for instance, that I have been "jocking my 360" lately.
That all said brings me to the title of this post.
I made a massive thrusting of a purchase this weekend. My wife and I went to Best Buy for a CD by Man Man, and somehow left with a 42" 1080p LCD TV... and I didn't even have to coax her. I was the one saying, "do we really need this right now?" I guess we did. In fact, I'm sure we did.
Once we got the thing set up and hooked up to all its brothers and sisters (we still need the HD cable box now and HDMI cables to boot, but they're free from the cable company), there was no going back. Seeing John Woo's Stranglehold on my Xbox in 720p was awe-inspiring. I played a game of NBA 2K8 and saw the sweat dripping from my virtual self as I choked on a late-game free-throw. Mass Effect, needless to say, is now due for another play-through.
If there are any of you out there who are still mulling over getting an HDTV, as in you have the means but are not sure yet, wait no longer. Go get one. Now. If you dig movies, games, whatever... you'll not regret it a bit. Right up there with my Xbox, it's the best purchase I've made since I bought my wife her engagement ring. It doesn't bring the same amount of happiness, but it makes boring Sundays not so boring.
Cheers, you lot.
That all said brings me to the title of this post.
I made a massive thrusting of a purchase this weekend. My wife and I went to Best Buy for a CD by Man Man, and somehow left with a 42" 1080p LCD TV... and I didn't even have to coax her. I was the one saying, "do we really need this right now?" I guess we did. In fact, I'm sure we did.
Once we got the thing set up and hooked up to all its brothers and sisters (we still need the HD cable box now and HDMI cables to boot, but they're free from the cable company), there was no going back. Seeing John Woo's Stranglehold on my Xbox in 720p was awe-inspiring. I played a game of NBA 2K8 and saw the sweat dripping from my virtual self as I choked on a late-game free-throw. Mass Effect, needless to say, is now due for another play-through.
If there are any of you out there who are still mulling over getting an HDTV, as in you have the means but are not sure yet, wait no longer. Go get one. Now. If you dig movies, games, whatever... you'll not regret it a bit. Right up there with my Xbox, it's the best purchase I've made since I bought my wife her engagement ring. It doesn't bring the same amount of happiness, but it makes boring Sundays not so boring.
Cheers, you lot.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
GTA IV Hits April 29th
I just read over at Next-Gen that Rockstar's newest installment of Grand Theft Auto will finally be hitting store shelves on April 29th. About friggin' time, I'd say.
I've been playing the GTA series since the 2nd, still top-down oriented, edition on the Dreamcast. I never could have anticipated how big the series would become with GTA III though, when it entered the 3D realm and gave players an entire city to play in, and a pretty decent story to be a part of. Then Vice City hit... and the world was shook. It was like playing through a mixture of Scarface the movie and Goodfellas thanks to the VO work of Ray Liotta. As a fan of crime fantasy film and novels, it was a dream come true.
Since Vice City, countless clones have come and gone... but not one has captured the magic of that title, not even San Andreas (which to me played more like one giant farcical look at 90s LA than anything). But Rockstar's been working on IV for a while. There's a likeable and identifiable (to me, anyway) protagonist as the main character. The over the top humor from GTA:SA seems to be gone. Maybe they realized Saints Row did enough of that schtick for both of them.
Most of all? GTA IV has characters with fingers. Thank JEEBUS. Really, I'm not sure what it is about the GTAs that draws me in. My local Gamestop guys find it odd that I'm drawn to these titles, being a lifelong Nintendo fan. I've played the recent GTAs on the PC only. I'm not your average "I-will-do-whatever-it-takes-to-fit-in-because-I'm-a-sheep" gamer. I just like the feel, the look, the alternate reality of the series I guess. The wide-open nature that Rockstar puts forth in the GTA series is second to none. Many games try to equal it, but very few come even remotely close. They may be fun in their own ways, but nothing beats what Rockstar puts out.
I guess, the point of all this, is to say that I'm excited. No more delays please. April 29th gives me a few weeks before AoC hits the PC. I don't want to cut it any closer.
I've been playing the GTA series since the 2nd, still top-down oriented, edition on the Dreamcast. I never could have anticipated how big the series would become with GTA III though, when it entered the 3D realm and gave players an entire city to play in, and a pretty decent story to be a part of. Then Vice City hit... and the world was shook. It was like playing through a mixture of Scarface the movie and Goodfellas thanks to the VO work of Ray Liotta. As a fan of crime fantasy film and novels, it was a dream come true.
Since Vice City, countless clones have come and gone... but not one has captured the magic of that title, not even San Andreas (which to me played more like one giant farcical look at 90s LA than anything). But Rockstar's been working on IV for a while. There's a likeable and identifiable (to me, anyway) protagonist as the main character. The over the top humor from GTA:SA seems to be gone. Maybe they realized Saints Row did enough of that schtick for both of them.
Most of all? GTA IV has characters with fingers. Thank JEEBUS. Really, I'm not sure what it is about the GTAs that draws me in. My local Gamestop guys find it odd that I'm drawn to these titles, being a lifelong Nintendo fan. I've played the recent GTAs on the PC only. I'm not your average "I-will-do-whatever-it-takes-to-fit-in-because-I'm-a-sheep" gamer. I just like the feel, the look, the alternate reality of the series I guess. The wide-open nature that Rockstar puts forth in the GTA series is second to none. Many games try to equal it, but very few come even remotely close. They may be fun in their own ways, but nothing beats what Rockstar puts out.
I guess, the point of all this, is to say that I'm excited. No more delays please. April 29th gives me a few weeks before AoC hits the PC. I don't want to cut it any closer.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Hook Me Up
So, I'm getting cable finally. It's been nearly a year since my wife and I moved out of her parents' house, and we've not had the little life-sucking box since then. But months of Netflix, rentals from Family Video, and lots of TV via the Internet... we realized we'd save patience and hassles in the long run if we just got the damn cable TV.
The plus? I'll be able to record and save episodes of Family Guy, American Dad, Heroes, Futurama, etc. and so on. I'll also have the cable guy change where my router and modem are so that I can connect to Xbox Live. WIN!
The negative? I'll not be able to play my Xbox for a solid week or two for any lenght of time more than 30 minutes as the wife will undoubtedly want to catch up on EVERY show known to man. She'll be a zombie for a while, I think. But I guess I'll be able to see what's going on in an MMO of my choosing while she does that then... maybe log myself into my father in law's LotRO account and check out how that game's doing since it won't cost me a nickel.
Anyway, just want to share that as it's a *sniff* big deal for me *tear*.
Cheers!
The plus? I'll be able to record and save episodes of Family Guy, American Dad, Heroes, Futurama, etc. and so on. I'll also have the cable guy change where my router and modem are so that I can connect to Xbox Live. WIN!
The negative? I'll not be able to play my Xbox for a solid week or two for any lenght of time more than 30 minutes as the wife will undoubtedly want to catch up on EVERY show known to man. She'll be a zombie for a while, I think. But I guess I'll be able to see what's going on in an MMO of my choosing while she does that then... maybe log myself into my father in law's LotRO account and check out how that game's doing since it won't cost me a nickel.
Anyway, just want to share that as it's a *sniff* big deal for me *tear*.
Cheers!
Age of Conan's Delay and Rock Band
Those two titles have nothing to do with each other, but I figured I could combine the two topics into this post as well... this is my blog and I want to.
Darren of TCSG raises some valid points recently about what the recent AoC delay to may 20th could signal. It's his duty as a blogger to speculate, and his main worry for Funcom's project is that it's putting itself too close to the steady-aiming crosshairs of EAMythic's Warhammer Online. This could be true... if there's not another delay for Warhammer.
I think it's safe to say that the most anticipated MMO is Warhammer, and any MMO going up against it will be in for a tough time unless Warhammer tanks in the press or fails to ignite gamers' passion... both of which I doubt will happen. So then, it's really up to whether or not Warhammer will it its Q2 release date. One thing's for sure though... at least EAMythic has had the sense not to set an actual date only to revise it close to launch.
That's one thing I think Funcom should stop giving until they're absolutely certain they'll hit they're mark. Me? I'll be playing both games, whenever they come out... because both look fantastic. I'm an equal opportunity gamer.
Now, for Rock Band. Wife and I played a bit last night, and we're both reliantly on Medium now. Me on guitar and her on drums makes a viscious duo. But we met our match towards the end of the night in the form of two songs. First, Green Grass and High Tides. Second, I Get By by one of the "local" bands. Guitar on these two songs was hard, but not to the point of losing it... but my poor spouse. There was no saving her on the drums. When I did kick out a save, she'd end up falling seconds later because the drums were just too fast and awkward compared to the rest of the songs we'd been playing. These tunes are definitely going to take a few tries.
The beauty of Rock Band is that practice really makes perfect. We found ourselves falling to sleep on earlier songs like In Bloom and Say It Ain't So, so it's likely we'll be on hard with them soon. But I think our drummer might have to go down to easy for a couple times on the two above-mentioned songs... just so we can get past them and then work on them after. They are truly feats of her endurance... almost makes me feel bad because the guitar is way easier on medium.
Anyway, back to work. Cheers, you lot.
Darren of TCSG raises some valid points recently about what the recent AoC delay to may 20th could signal. It's his duty as a blogger to speculate, and his main worry for Funcom's project is that it's putting itself too close to the steady-aiming crosshairs of EAMythic's Warhammer Online. This could be true... if there's not another delay for Warhammer.
I think it's safe to say that the most anticipated MMO is Warhammer, and any MMO going up against it will be in for a tough time unless Warhammer tanks in the press or fails to ignite gamers' passion... both of which I doubt will happen. So then, it's really up to whether or not Warhammer will it its Q2 release date. One thing's for sure though... at least EAMythic has had the sense not to set an actual date only to revise it close to launch.
That's one thing I think Funcom should stop giving until they're absolutely certain they'll hit they're mark. Me? I'll be playing both games, whenever they come out... because both look fantastic. I'm an equal opportunity gamer.
Now, for Rock Band. Wife and I played a bit last night, and we're both reliantly on Medium now. Me on guitar and her on drums makes a viscious duo. But we met our match towards the end of the night in the form of two songs. First, Green Grass and High Tides. Second, I Get By by one of the "local" bands. Guitar on these two songs was hard, but not to the point of losing it... but my poor spouse. There was no saving her on the drums. When I did kick out a save, she'd end up falling seconds later because the drums were just too fast and awkward compared to the rest of the songs we'd been playing. These tunes are definitely going to take a few tries.
The beauty of Rock Band is that practice really makes perfect. We found ourselves falling to sleep on earlier songs like In Bloom and Say It Ain't So, so it's likely we'll be on hard with them soon. But I think our drummer might have to go down to easy for a couple times on the two above-mentioned songs... just so we can get past them and then work on them after. They are truly feats of her endurance... almost makes me feel bad because the guitar is way easier on medium.
Anyway, back to work. Cheers, you lot.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Answering the Call... of Duty
I rented, played, and beat Call of Duty 4 this weekend. I'm not usually a big war game kind of guy, but when a title gets such raring reviews, I'm hard-pressed not to stand up and take notice.
Really, it's a grand game, even coming from someone who's not a fan of the genre. The gameplay is absolutely rock solid, the story is engrossing, the cinematics are decent, and the ending is fulfilling and even a tinge sad. There are many, many heart-pounding moments throughout, like carrying your stealth teammate through a warzone and waiting near a ferris wheel as dozens of the enemy come hurtling at you while you cling to life as the rescue chopper makes its way to you. Or using smoke screen grenades to create cover while you sneak up behind a BMP and strap some C4 to it to make it go BOOM.
This is not a game that you "relax" with, this is a game to let loose some frustration with. Few shooters give such an exhilerating look at what military combat might be like. I was almost thankful when the end credits ran after a measly 5 hours of play. The bulk of COD4 is meant to be experienced online, I'd bet. But if there's one thing I know, it's that I don't feel like getting "WTFPWND" by folks who will insist on calling me any deragatory remark their feeble minds can think of. I know I suck, I don't need them reminding me in oh-so-clever ways.
Still, for anyone who has yet to experience COD4, I'd say it's a definitely rental/buy depending on whether or not you want the online competition. For me, it was a very fun run through the offline campaign, and one I will likely rent again or pick up on the cheap down the road.
Good stuff. Next up on my Gamefly list is John Woo's "Stranglehold". Looking forward to getting my Chow Yun Fat on.
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