From the Brow of Zeus

It's always interesting -- and a little scary -- when my page is quoted as a source. My stuff shouldn't be considered a source for anything other than a few laughs. But still, it's nice to be taken seriously.

TV Tropes tracks "story components or elements which have become standardized through decades (or more) of use."

It's kind of a wiki of television cliches, and they've got an article called Blond Guys Are Evil with a big ol' quote from yours truly.

"In Hollywood, blond guys have two choices: Dye your hair brown, save the world and get the leading lady. Or keep it blond and work on your bad guy face."
-- J.R. Antrim Vs. Evil Blond Men

Their description sums up the cliche quite nicely:

Fair-haired guys in media almost always end up evil. Especially noticeable if they are compared to a nice dark-haired guy, or if they are opposite ends of a Love Triangle.

If they're not evil, they're still jerks, although they may or may not be nice underneath, and they usually lose. Where a Betty And Veronica usually has a blonde Betty and a dark- or red-haired Veronica, a male version of this setup will do the reverse.

Given that blond heroes were not rare in films 40 or more years ago, this may be a Cyclic Trope, albeit with a longer cycle time than that for female "bad hair colors"

The Betty/Veronica bit is a good point.

Read the full list of Evil Blond Guy Tropes.

Labels: misc

I got the idea after reading an article in EGM on the feasibility of famous video game weapons. Seeing the Gunsword next to a Lancer got me thinking. Are Double Weapons fundamentally flawed... or certified works of genius? And given enough time and a bit of javascript, could I do better?

• Nuclear Baseball Bat

• Remington Fists

• Flak Cannon Lasso

• Sniper Numbchucks

Click here to see your random Double Weapon!


This page has my first ever Stumble Upon button, so somebody tell me if it works and it trips them up. Just don't sue me. This page can't afford insurance.

P.S. This is a work in progress. If you can think of any weapons I should add, let me know in the comments.

Labels: videogames

Note: I'm going to post the full article in the next day or two, but for now, here's a preview.

5 Reasons I Bought UnReal World RPG

#1 - The full game is only $3.
You heard me, *three bucks*. The catch is, the $3 license isn't good for updates. Ever. Not even if you run into some really gnarly bugs. For that price, you have to Hex Edit them out yourself.

A $10 license will grant you a few buxfixes until the next major revision. Finally, a Lifetime License is available for $55, which is a lot of cash, but if you're really into the game, it'll entitle you to years of upcoming content without ever having to shell out another dime.

Me, I only spent $3. If they add anything new down the line, I might look into the $10 license. But nobody ever accused me of *not* being a cheapskate.

Might not be the most interesting reason, but I find this whole tier-registration plan oddly fascinating.

Buying this game almost becomes a game in itself. You want to time your $3 registration just before the next major revision, when all the old bugs are fixed and the new ones are ready to be programmed in.

I bought mine a few days ago, because there hadn't been an update in months and I thought I was fairly safe. Turns out I was wrong, as less than a week later, out comes version 3.10-2!

Oh, the horror!

Will the devious minds behind the game hook me into buying a more expensive license? Will I ever actually get to play it? What do I mean, "Digital Finns"? Tune in to find out! The next major revision of this article will be out in just a few days. And it's going to cost you $0.47.

Labels: videogames

Welcome guys,

I'm going to talk to you about RSS Feeds.

(You in the back, stop that yawning!)

Feeds are an amazing new way to keep up with your favorite websites. I went from, "Yeah, I can just GO to the websites, why would I need anything else?" to "HOLY CRAP I'S IN WUB" in about two days. Now, I'm addicted. Even before I check my email, I check my feeds.

Think of RSS Feeds as a newspaper: You subscribe to the sites you like, and then every morning, new updates are waiting for you like magic. No need to remember to check my site and remember the URL. It's all taken care of for you.

See the orange and white icon on the sidebar to the left? That's how you subscribe. But first you need to deicde on a RSS Newsreader.

Which RSS Newsreader you choose depends on your needs:

• For a web-based RSS Newsreader, Google Reader is for you.
• If you'd rather install a program that archives the feeds locally, FeedDemon is the best.
  

Personally, I prefer FeedDemon.

Either way, feeds are laid out much like an old USEnet client or your favorite email program (Outlook, gmail, whatever.)

I don't feel like taking a screenshot, so here's a high tech ASCII representation:

_________________________________________________________________
| Zeus        | -Lifetime Licenses & Episodic Games             |
| Bucket Bros | [more]                                          | 
| Sharkey     | -The End of Single-Player Games?                |
| JD          | [more]                                          |
| Xenobones   | ------------------------------------------------|
|             |    +"5 Reasons I Bought Mount & Blade"          |
|             |    I wrote a new article over at Bucket Bros,   |
|             |    describing one of the most kickawesomest     |
|             |    Action-RPGs I've ever had the pleasure of    | 
|             |    playing....                                  | 
|             | [less]                                          |
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Um, you get the idea.

There's a list of different subscribed websites on the left. Click on one, and the list pops up in the view window on the bottom right. Just like email. Only with webpages. Nice huh?

Instead of logging on every few days to check for updates, you'll be automatically notified.

Okay, I gotta go. RSS Newsfeeds! Try it, you'll like it.

Labels: software

Waffle Squadron Omega's Cap'n Jack has responded to my 5 Reasons I Bought Mount & Blade article and brought up an interesting point.

What struck him was Mount & Blade's lifetime license -- a one-time fee gives you unlimited upgrades for free.

This is a concept that other games - especially digitally distributed games (Xbox Live, PSN, WiiWare, etc.) - can benefit from. The pay up front + free upgrades for life works with most of the software that we use on our computers today. So why not use this with video games?

For example, the Penny Arcade Adventure: RSPOD, which is currently on Xbox Live for $20, could possibly benefit from having a $50 price tag if it meant we’d get continuous, free updates to the game over the next few years. It’s a gamble, because consumers can’t really be certain how often they’re going to get these free updates. But, if a precedent is set, then the market will be there.

Like Jack says, it's a gamble. The problem with paying more for episodic content up front is that like any "season" of entertainment, it might get canceled. Shenmue, SIN Episodes, Shining Force III for Saturn (the sequels were released in Japan only). The list goes on.

The one episodic game I can think of with real lasting power is Sam & Max. (Full seasons are available at a sizable discount.)

Given the shaky history of episodic games, the only way I'd be comfortable paying for a full season in advance is if we arranged what I call the Miami Vice Villain Agreement: Half now, the other half when you deliver the goods.


I'd be fine with paying $25 for the first episode, getting another nine free and then automatically being billed $25 when they fulfill their end of the bargain and finish the series. Plus, it'd give me a chance to wear pastel shirts under my sportcoat.

I like the idea of multiple payment options. For instance, UnReal World (another medieval RPG with a lifetime license deal) lets you buy the full game for $3. That's right, just three bucks and you own the whole thing. The catch? No more updates. Ever.

What if there's a game crashing bug? Nope. Sorry about your damn luck.

$10 gets you a Single Major Version license, good for a few bugfixes, at least until there's a major revision. Finally, Mr. Moneypockets can buy a lifetime registration for $55. Sure, it sounds like a lot, but you'll be entitled to years of future content. (Compare that to professionally developed PC games, where anything more than a bugfix is labeled an "expansion pack.")

As for free content just-for-the-heck-of-it, Unreal Tournament got a famous Bonus Pack some years ago, which did a lot to convince people that Cliffy B. beat John C. in the Unreal Tournament/Quake 3 wars. And Cryptic Comet recently released a free booster pack for its turn-based post-apocalyptic card card game, Armageddon Empires.

Even as the developer begins work on his next game, Solium Infernum -- in which players assume their roles as warring Barons of Hell -- he's announced another A.E. bonus pack -- again, for free.

Out of the kindness of his cold, black, demonic lord lovin' heart.

Labels: videogames

Curmudgeon Gamer is worried that single player modes could be a thing of the past.

"With news that even Resident Evil 5 wants to tap into the co-op trend, I definitely get a feel that the days of sitting on your own and enjoying something in a similar way as you would sit and enjoy a book are over. Social gaming is reaching a new epoch, so it's only a natural extension that everything tries to get on board." -- Curmudgeon Gamer.

It's all due to a quote from our favorite jittering man-goat, Phil "Give Me What I Want And I'll Go Away" Harrison:

"Alone in the Dark is a beautifully crafted single-player adventure game. I don't think the industry is going to make many more of those. I just don't think consumers want to be playing games that don't have some kind of network connectivity to them, or some kind of community embedded in them, or some kind of extension available through downloadable content." -- Phil Harrison, to Eurogamer.

Meanwhile, Joystiq bemoans the Golden Axe remake's lack of a co-op mode (along with everyone else who ever played the original games.)



Are co-op games getting more popular? Yes, thank God. (I'm one of those weird types who prefers to do his multiplayer gaming on the couch, where settled disputes are only a punch away.)

But I don't think a rise of co-op modes necessarily means the death of single player games. (Don't get me wrong -- things could get very grim. Just look at PC RPGs: In a matter of years, single-player RPGs went from one of the strongest genres on the market to the occasional Elder Scrolls title -- and Witcher -- lost in a sea of MMORPGs.) As long as there are smaller developers, we'll still have finely crafted single-player stories, even if so-called "AAA" publishers like EA think we're better off without them.

I think it's all a matter of staying true to the series. A single-player Golden Axe is every bit as stupid as a massively multiplayer Alone in the Dark. ("Lovecraftian horror" and "large crowds of newbies" don't exactly go hand-in-hand.) Final Fantasy 11 (should have called it "Online") never really caught on. I don't see much call for a Massively Multiplayer Mario Bros., while an expansive, 100 hour single-player Smash Bros. campaign mode is likely to be ignored than anything else.

Let the multiplayer mode fit the game. Buddy cop movies are fun, so "buddy cop" games like Army of Two are a no-brainer. But Final Fantasy is all about forgetting the world around you -- doesn't make sense to populate that world with assholes from the real world.

I don't hope for an end of single-player modes any more than I wish for a return to the single-player-centric mindset of the 90s. Let's strike a healthy balance, so that we may game with our friends, and just as importantly, game without them.

Labels: videogames