Cocktail Parties and Video Games

I have been taking a break from playing intense video games, and trying to only play to let off a little steam during the day (about a half-hour every other day or so). I have found this to be particularly difficult because of the present situation with my favorite baseball team, the continuing job search (that is starting to reach its inevitable conclusion), and my complete lack of interest in reading lately.

Two excellent RTS computer games have been released lately, Supreme Commander and Command and Conquer 3. Both of these games are excellent and I can recommend both of them, but it definitely shows the fragmentation of the genre.

Supreme commander (SC) is excellent in having large battles. The single player campaign is dismal but provides enough training to learn how to play effectively. The biggest benefits to Supreme commander are primarily the zooming map and the logistics system. You can zoom the map in to view individual battles or zoom out to see the entire battle field, I find myself using this function enough that I was annoyed that C&C3 did not have this feature. The logistics are also excellent, you can build factories, then build transports to automatically transport units to the front line. I am also impressed that the large units are not game breakers (as they appeared to be before the game was released) and each super-weapon has a counter. The economic system is also innovative and excellent, though I spend more time micromanaging it than focusing on the battles.

What is not good about SC is the lack of infantry and the lack of urban combat. this was a real bummer, yes the maps can be up to 81 km square, but buildings having buildings and bunkers to block line of site would be a huge bonus.

C&C3 is much better at have tactical battles. The single player campaign is awesome and tells a cheesy story using real actors (go SIX!!). It does fall apart in showing me how to use all the features, such as moving in reverse and armor facings. The multiplayer is slightly better than SC, the maps have more to look at, there is urban combat, and infantry. The three sides are different enough but also seem well balanced. There are more options per unit as well, for example you can use your snipers to spot a target for artillery; or sneak a commando in the rear of an enemy base. In SC each unit (usually) has a single function which overall makes for less tactics; you build a combined force of units and send it off to fight, there becomes a more micromanaging of the economy and not the battles. In C&C there is more micro managing of a battle and it is easy to set up an economy.

There is no zoom map though, this should become a standard of all RTS games from now on. The economy is also a little too simple, only one resource. The biggest flaw is that Mammoth tanks are too powerful because they are able to take out air and ground units; this allow them to rush easily.

Neither is a perfect game, though C&C3 is slightly better and may be one of the best games that I have played. Someone needs to combine these two games to make a perfect RTS game; urban combat, infantry, zoom map, deep economics, and epic battles. Fans of RTS should get both games.

Sports season is a go!

My sports season has officially started both baseball and F1 racing seasons have officially started. The last two years the Chicago Cubs have sucked goat balls, but I continue to remain optimistic about their future. They lost opening day and I would like to see the silver (lets make it gold) lining because the Cubs have been very successful on opening day the last two years with horrible seasons. Opinion about the Cubs seems mixed this year, some think that it is almost sure that they will make the playoffs (at least), and others have shrugged them off again. I’m in the former camp, though I don’t see it as being easy. The Cubs have put together an excellent team that I’m excited about seeing in action.

F1 is a little different matter; Renault will have a difficult time to win the constructor championship. I like their new cars, who knew that orange and yellow could look so great on an open wheeled car? I’m still cheering for Alonso too, and the competition between him and Räikkönen looks to make a great season. BMW showed up and could make the competition even better. Also I’m looking forward to Fuji speedway, the new Japan tack.

Overall it looks to be an excellent year for sports.

Boogie Star Wars

Even in my advanced age I check out YouTube from time to time, and here is Boogie Nights in Star Wars. Sharing is caring!!

14189 - Music, part 2 of 5

The moment when I started considering myself “old” was in 2001. I went with a friend to see a 90’s cover band. It was 2001 and I was listening to a band that was covering Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains; what made this band suck though was that they covered Hootie and the Blowfish, Dave Matthews Band, and Counting Crows. I’m not a huge fan of the later three bands and they do not sound good when played after hearing “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. It was a good thing they didn’t try to cover Dr. Dre as well. What a mishmash of different styles the 90s were, from the downfall of “hair-metal”, to the “alternative” scene, rap, hip hop, and the beginnings of teen pop. I think MTV even played music back when I was going through high school.

Back when music was helping form my identity there was no internet downloading of music, American Idol, or hit bands doing the opening theme for shows. There also was making cassette tapes for friends, and loaning CDs (and inevitably losing them) to others. Automobiles had cassette players in them and for many playing a CD meant having to make a tape, or get one of those tape shaped adaptors.

Back to my original point though; every generation has some musical influence upon them that stays with them and will always seem better than “whatever is out now”. Once in 1992 (or 1991) I was wearing a Nine Inch Nails shirt to a family gathering (Christmas I think) and someone said “Who is NIN?” At that point NIN had not left my CD player for about a year now. To some of my associates that were older Motley Crue and Poison were the musical influence; whatever I was listening to could not compare. Now that I have gotten over caring about how commercial a band is; Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Nine Inch Nails were those bands for me, simply better than anything out there because they are part of my musical identity. There are bands/performers that are so good that I just don’t compare their work with anyone else’s; this would be the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Rush, and Tori Amos.

Am I old because Nirvana is better than Fall Out Boy? I think that this is a big part of it. There are a few new musical acts that I really like (The Dresden Dolls) but they do not provoke the same reaction in me that older bands do. This goes to albums too, the new Pearl Jam and Tool albums are great, but it takes much more than great to beat “Ten”, and “Undertow”. October 19^th, 1993 I went across the street to “Sound Warehouse” where I bought “Vs.” the new album by Pearl Jam and “Counterparts” the new album by Rush, with a friend of mine. The store manger pointed out to me that Pearl Jam will never be as big as Rush, they were just a fad. Their second album was to fail and they would fad to obscurity. This point of view was preposterous at the time, I have come closer to this line of thinking by making it too difficult for a new band to be a modern classic.