Writing Discipline

Check this out!   http://micro-fiction.blogspot.com/ is a great and creative example of the writer’s art. I can’t imagine the effort and the discipline one would need to tell a story in just 50 words. I may try it, though I seriously doubt I would be brave enough to publish the results.

Mass Effect or Why Do I Need to Find Everything in a Game Part 2?

To keep things shorter I’ll jump over the whole PS2 Xbox generation, though I’m already eyeing Bioware with a mixture of admiration and utter contempt at this point. In the modern era we have two games that represent the destruction of my body and soul, or at least usher in a massive influx of OCD gaming habits. Bioware put together Mass Effect which for those of you not aware, is the gaming equivalent of crack to people like me. Modern games have been slowly moving away from the idea that collecting a hundred items, and then doing it again works as a valid plot point. Mass Effect slaps down that idea and sends you right back to a hell that Super Mario Brothers could only dream of. This is the mother lode of things that make me obsessive. To begin, we have a protagonist that has multiple conversation choices, that can lead to different outcomes. This means that right out of the box there is no way for me to get everything my first go around. I need to play it multiple times to see everything. just thinking about it is  raising my blood pressure. But I’ll do it.

The next part just compounds the first problem. You now have the choice to be good or evil. The choice of one can block out the choices available to the other. In Mass Effect it isn’t too bad, as there are ways around it or you can play multiple times. But Fable II! That is a whole other ball of wax. I play it and I hate it at the same time. Don’t get me wrong, it is a great game and I love to play it, but there is a part of me that cringes when I make a choice. I know I’ll need to make a whole new character if I want to make that choice again, as there are no multiple saves per character. At least with Mass Effect, I can save right before a new choice. With Fable I’m effectively screwed.  But I still love it.

Sean Hannity Claims Dems Wish Death on Limbaugh. Wanda Sykes IS the Democratic Party Dammit!

Quick Disclaimer: Apologies for seeming to be picking on the republicans. In real life I can’t stand either of the parties, but I listen to a lot of talk radio so yeah, I hear Rush and Hannity say the stupidest things most frequently.

So Wanda Sykes gets on stage and claims to be hoping for Rush Limbaugh’s kidneys to fail and suddenly all democrats are supposed to be wishing death on El Rushbo. Besides the fact that Rush has the money by now to preserve his head Futurama style, meaning he will outlive us all, why does one person now speak for the entire Democratic party? I never have understood this. During the election when the crazies were yelling things at McCain rallies, why was McCain supposed to rein them in. Why did dems insist that not speaking up meant support?

The answer for both sides is obvious and its why I hate them all. These stupid talking points and non-event political news are what drive our political system. Neither side can or will tackle anything of substance, but they sure as hell can grab the first one liner they hear and run it into the ground for all it is worth. I swear to the sweet baby jeebus if I hear Rush do that Barney Frank imitation of his or Hannity just repeat the same thing, (Rham “Dead Fish” Emmanuel) over and over I will start to stab random peoples eyes out. Or just sigh and shake my head like I normally do.What ever mood I’m in I guess.

So that’s how our great nation is run. We appeal to the least common denominator and hope everyone’s ADHD attention span lasts just long enough to remember the last truly horrible thing they heard. Go ahead and say whatever you want, no one will ever do any research on it. I guarantee you right now there are emails circulating right now saying that Obama, Biden, and Pelosi were screaming for Limbaugh’s death as opposed to one comedian who made a joke. And they are being forwarded, dear God are they being forwarded. If not they probably soon will be, as soon as some rabies infested mouth breather reads just this bottom paragraph and only sees the fourth sentence.

Wanda Sykes is a pretty funny comedian, not the entire Democratic party. Her shot at Rush may be considered bad taste to some, but it is hardly the opening howl of a Rush lynch mob. I’m 100 hundred percent certain that all democrats do not want Rush to die. Now if she had made a joke about his tongue falling out, the dems may have had a problem.

Mass Effect or Why Do I Need to Find Everything in a Game?

With the recent information regarding Mass Effect 2 (Video),  my interest was peaked. Coming off a Killzone 2 jag I realized I had only played through the original Mass Effect once, and had yet to touch the DLC for it. So I went ahead and popped it into my 360 for the first time in a long time.

For a while it was good to be managing inventories and stats again. I finished off Eden Prime and was off to the Citadel. It was here that I realized why I wait so long to play these games. It seems that there is something in my personality that forces me to complete as much of the game as possible. It began harmlessly enough with the original Super Mario Bros. Collecting all the coins in a level was part of the game. Never mind that I HAD to get them all. Every game at this point seemed like it was some sort of collection quest. That was ok though, because the games were small and Nintendo Power was in all my friends grubby little hands. With the advent of the Final Fantasy games on the Playstation, things got a little worse. While collection was still a part of the game in the form of items, the dreaded sub-quest was added. Now there were parts of the game or characters in it I may never see unless I did something specific. Failure to go to the right place or talk to the right character could close off parts of a game for that entire play through. I became an avid believer in saving often. I would also always buy the strategy guide along with the game so I could make sure I would not miss anything. And those of you laughing right now can shut up . I knew about Gamefaqs, but I needed answers then and there. I couldn’t wait for someone with my same obsession to get around to posting. Ok, I know it was stupid but I was driven.

Getting long I’ll continue in my next post….