Champions Online... You have failed me for the last time...

Well got back home at my place today and after doing a little clean up around the house n stuff I got online to get some gaming in. Logged onto to Champions Online and hit an error. meh saw the error last week and didn't give it much mind because the game is new, there's bound to be hick ups. Did some more digging and discovered that I didn't actually buy the retail version of the game with the package I bought and can't play it. I double checked all my stuff and looked at the lifetime subscription I bought from Cryptic and sure enough it includes a download of the game. Well that's some slick bait and switch, include a download of the game, just not the retail version and don't tell the customer. So after getting a bunch of snotty comments about it on the Champions Online forum boards I've decided to cut my losses and get my money back. I'll probably have to get belligerent with Cryptic to get my money but I've gotten used to that.

EDIT: It works out for the best anyway, I really wasn't enjoying the game at all. I didn't get to any end game content or anything so I'm not sure how really that bad it was in the end, but the poor mechanics and lack of social tools made the game noticeably bad enough that it got in the way of me enjoying the game and since the ride there is more important than the destination, that's not good. If just one of those were a serious problem instead of both I would probably still be on board. The creative effort that went into the game was great, Oh well. Incorporating some of the elements of the hero system would have fixed most of the game mechanic issues I ran across but that's pretty common with a lot of level based games.

Just got home, had another heart attack

Sort of it was actually a complication of the first one happened last Sunday because I'm an idiot and didn't take my meds as faithfully as I should have and pushed my truck about half a mile after running out of gas. I also think I must of misunderstood the importance of one of the medications. It's basically key to making the Harkonan heart plug permanent.

Champions Online is getting a little better

I did a complete Rebuild of Warhead (including the look now that I found an old pic i drew of him) and so far things are a little less frustrating. it's a matter of figuring out what the hell these guys at cryptic are doing. 1st thing to understand that what ever cryptic did with Power Armored Characters makes them suck ass as bricks, they're blasters. I'm working on figuring the rest of their system out but so far it makes the hero system look easy. They've even got stuff like a typical MMO style crafting system which appears required to gear yourself properly just like every other MMO I've played, I'm not liking that. So far everything about this game runs contrary to the ethos of the real Hero System. Anyway, I'm gonna try rebuilding him again later with the brick framework instead of powered armor and try and keep the look the same.

Once I hit the level cap I'll have access to a lot more stuff though and be able to better judge stuff. Dispite my issues with the game its starting to grow on me. I'm gonna stay with it I think.

Whaco Jaco Michel Jackson is getting buried today

And its very annoying. Why's the plot gotta be less than a block from where I live? Put it somewhere else and close someone else's street down.

GET OFF MY LAWN!!!

I feel better. ;)

I left for work this morning and as I pulled out there was a freaking army of cops blocking off Glendale blvd and all the nearby allys. At first I thought That must'a been one big gang fight. But once I left I turned out the radio and immediately found out what it really was about.

On another note, not sure what to make of that guy. I dunno I've got a gut feeling he was actually innocent of the pedophillia stuff and it was nothing more than taking advantage of a guy who probably belonged in a mental institution but his family was more worried about the gravy train than his mental health.

Well if he's innocent of that stuff hopefully he's singing in a better place. If he's not... I ain't sayin' what I think out loud.

Government Thieving Bastards

Went to the courthouse today to button up a ticket. Got all the crap done on time for the fix it ticket and was told all I'd have to do is show that I got it fixed before the court date and the ticket would get waived. But the fuckers are making me pay the ticket anyway. Typical government lying thieving bastards! If they were up front and honest about fucking me over I wouldn't care as much. I just hate being lied to.

Champions Online

I picked up Champions Online and paid extra to get into the head start and get started early before the official release. So far... Meh... I'm disapointed, I played City of Heroes/Villians and this pretty much feels exactly the same just with skinned with the Champions world. It's not at all a Hero system game like I was hoping for. The Customization and balance of the Hero System is one of the major reasons I loved Champions but unfortunately that won't be in this game. A more appropriate name for this game is City of Heroes 2: Champions. It comes across more like a City of Heroes Expansion to me than a stand alone game, although they did do a fantastic job creating this expansion. Hearing them bring Grond to life has been worth it Cryptic nailed the characters to a tee. The lines they give him are epic fun. In the low levels areas Grond randomly shows up and if he hits you, your dead. He's an Epic Character and your a lowbie. "You as exciting as some second rate MMO... Grond Leave now."

I got a kick out of that. The creativeness of the Dev team looks pretty good. Although buggyness has been an issue, but every major new MMO has massive bugs on release. I've managed to overcome them far far better than everyone on the Champions Online Forum has been complaining about, I think I've run into but have over come most of the technical problems. There is one major gripe that I have, the social grouping/pugging tools, there aren't any, at all. Granted the official release is next week. Hopefully they already have that done but need to do some polishing up before giving it to us, the idea that they maybe forgot those essential social tools bugs me. My other Gripe is that Grond is an Epic Character and your a lowbie... In the hero system, when you make your character he's ready to go, he's not first freaking level. He's not as powerful as Dr Destroyer but the Active Power Point system and all that other stuff makes you feel like you have created an Epic Character with the limited resources you start out with. There are other little things that could have been implemented but weren't. Like the Body & Stun System of the Hero, that would have been awesome to see that stuff and having automatically calculated by the computer is the way to go with it. Instead they're using freaking hit points? Oh well. I gotta be honest though. The more I play this game the less I like it, it was the same with City of Heroes. I think it's got to do with the Social tools, they're Anti-Social. there's so much creative awesomeness in this game it's frustrating. But there's no grouping up tools (whats the point of an MMO without social tools?) and so far PvP just plain sucks. There's one map and one game type for PvP.

Oh well, here's a clip of War Head, my Old PnP Champions Character resurrected for Champions Online. Unfortunately because they skimped on the Hero system game mechanics his supersonic flying body tackle will never make it into the game.

EDIT: On the subject of 'feeling' like you created an epic character here's a great Example of real Hero System Champions character I created for fun recently. He's a minion of the the Arch-Angel Gabriel Named Arzuthial called the "Will of Gabriel" Long Story short (I'll post his background later he's a great character) this Standard Heroic 250pt Hero System character with a 52 active point max can kill Dr Destroyer or Grond with one hit. No I don't mean beat them down I mean outright kill them as in yank their soul out send it to the other side, after all, that's his job. He has a few multi-forms one is the Arch-Angel form that is a standard superhero style brick fighting build (The more I got into it the more I realized I was building Thor) the other form is the"Angel of Death'" Skeleton in a cloak complete with a transformation power attached to his scythe that once it touches you, nothing will stop it from sucking your soul out. Now, As a GM myself Generally you don't allow characters with powers like that unless you know your players won't abuse it. In this case I felt the character HAD to have that. So he can't just use his scythe in a fight on a whim even though it's his most effective weapon because it means he's committing to more than just fighting. I just had an itch to scratch of how to implement the idea of a sentient creature in complete control of itself but at the same time lacks free will and felt I had to build the character and flesh it out.

Now knowing that I CAN make and play the "Angel of Death" out of the box under this system makes other characters I make FEEL a little more Epic.

Compare that to Champions Online knowing that I made a 1st level power armored character.... Meh. I think Cryptic missed the boat or more likely just plain didn't care about what makes Champions and the Hero System above the rest.

I think Heroes got thier Mojo Back

Found this on the Heroes website. Lots of little things in there that really come across like they've really figured out what fans like me want to see. Peter is the Uber Good guy again looks like. Sylar threatening Matt Parkmans Baby?!

Spiderman the "One More Day" Series

This potentially could have been a very cool series. But to be honest I have to agree with the Spiderman fan boys that Marvel botched it big time, although I disagree with them that it wasn't a great idea and wasn't almost great. It was well on the road to be a great storyline but Marvel completely scewed it up, here's the Guts of the Storyline. During the "Civil War" storyline Spiderman came out of the closet and announced to TV news crews that Peter Parker is Spiderman and of course did this promoting Iron Mans SuperHuman Registration Act. Of course now we cue the "Civil War"and all that goes with that including Aunt May getting gunned down by one of Kingpins hit men. Lookin' to me like this storyline has some potential.

Now Aunt May is hanging on by a thread and Pete is looking to get her healed because modern medicine isn't cutting it and turns to Dr Strange. To be honest I'm not certain because I couldn't get my hands on that issue but I'd like to think Dr Strange felt that she was ready too and wanted to move on and be with Uncle Ben, so he wouldn't do it. But what really happened is that Dr Strange couldn't fix her?! WTF?! That's pure BS he's Dr freakin Strange, chalk it up to botch#1.

So Pete won't take that for an answer and in his pain an vulnerability as he leaves Dr Strange Pete is approached by a little girl who turns out to be none other than Mephisto, a Reality Altering Devil and bad ass, Creator of the Ghost Rider, Enemy of Dr Strange, and enjoys using the Mantle of the Christian Devil in the Marvel Universe. As far as evil bastards go, he's generally done right in Marvel. He offers Peter the choice of saving Aunt May in exchange for his marriage, and altering history so that Peter and MJ never fell in love. Now normally it would be against Spiderman's character to accept an offer from the devil. BUT! MJ talks him into it. That's where I separate from the Spiderman fanboys on this. YES it's against the ethos of spiderman but MJ could get him to do it. And that made for some good drama, so the story arc is still pretty solid as far as I'm concerned.

That little touch at the end where Mephisto revealed the guise of the little girl he used was actually their future daughter as he forced them to break apart was freakin epicly evil. That's why I just hate and love this series, some parts are so spot on and nail it but... Now we get to the majority of where things go horribly wrong in this storyline. Mephisto gets them to agree and he alters reality. They loose the marriage and then the rest is almost happily ever after?! WTF?! Pete gets Aunt May AND his secret identity back (he never even asked for that!) AND then gets his friend Harry and his dad Norman Osborne back ?! WTF is with that?! Mephisto is NEVER that generous nor should he be. Usually Mephisto would have Aunt May get hit by a bus or diagnosed with terminal brain cancer the next day and give her a month to live right after curing her. Then put MJ with a guy that beats her. Damn that woulda been evil... But this just isn't his style. Where are the consequences of making a deal with the Devil? It would have been easy to make this series awesome because the backbone idea is fucking awesome at it's core, but they've got to be idiots not seeing so many obviously awesome way to go.

As it turns out the end of this series was just changes the writers wanted to make and are using Mephisto as the tool to make them. The way there was awesome but the destination they picked before hand not only didn't pay off it was so bad it resulted in Marvel fans rightly booing the whole series. I kinda disagree with that I enjoyed the ride there to a completely and totally botched ending, I suspect that the destination was decided by management more so than the writers themselves. I find that hard to believe that they'd be that they're dumb considering the great story arc they took to get there. And As far as I'm concerned the Marriage is cannon now. Right next to Reed Richards and Sue Storm, it's just part of the Marvel Universe.

Oh well, I'm kinda hoping that first some good writers get involved or these guys get out of their funk or Slap management upside the head with a frying pan for not letting the story go where it was obviously supposed to go. and that Thor gets involved in this one, he's got the juice by virtue of the nature of what he is, and can put Mephisto in his place. He's kinda like The Celestial and Holy Arch-Angel of the Marvel Universe to counter these demonic creatures. I'm kinda hoping Thor sets things straight and opens up a can of cosmic whoop ass on Mephisto and puts MJ & Pete back together and then Personally takes Aunt May to be with Ben. Now that would be awesome. Besides Thor is long overdue for a moment to shine as a Marvel Character this could be a good opportunity.

We'll have to wait and see how it all plays out. I have a feeling somehow Mephisto is tied in with the dealings with Norman Osborne and Ares as they are making major plays in the Marvel universe though, hopfully it'll lead to a Marvel reboot. You gotta do that once in a while so that writers can feel free to make major changes because it'll always get reset anyway.

Well this is some miserable heat going over here

It's midnight right now and around 95 degrees in my apartment... Last night was no better. FAAAAKKKK!!! I can't run any games because it overheats my fucking PC. but at least I can still run the internet and bitch about it.

I missed work today because my little portable AC crapped out on me last night and I was up all night about time to leave for work this morning I got dressed sat down after getting my shoes on... and fucking fell asleep. The property management promises they'll have the AC replaced by Tuesday. I'm not gonna hold my breath, if it's not installed by the end of the day I'm just gonna have to get a new and bigger portable and send them the bill.

Update: HOLY SHIT I HAVE A WORKING AIR CONDITIONER AGAIN!!! YEEE HAAA!!!

Saw District 9 over the weekend

I feel like I should have liked this movie more. All the reviewers I usually like gave it some very enthusiastic thumbs up. Except blunty for some reason he doesn't have a review of it.

I gotta agree with my dad it was... Meh... I don't know of my hopes were too high or not. But to me it felt like the movie was a half assed attempt at a documentary style film and that's what hurt it for me, There were several instances where if it were documentary style, sorry you don't get to get that shot and it's okay because it's a "Documentry." Right? Right. The acticing felt solid and the effects were fantabulous but most of the movie was not actually documentary style, it was just shakey cam. In the begnining it wasa true documentary style and throughout the movie there were clips of interviews mixed in here and there but again just because it's shaky cam does not make a documentray, I guess that kinda caused a distraction that derailed me from liking it. Also the Interviews that were giving spoilers felt out of place I think it might have helped if they were kept in cronological order. Now the last half hour or so of the movie was more action flick than documentary and that was very very solid.

I did want to like it, I thought they did a great job bringing the "Prawns" to life. But all in all, on the scale of pass, rent, or run out right now and see it, I have to give it a definite rent. But since I don't rent, I'll pick up the DVD when it comes out. I hate late fees.

WoW Ad Parody - Funniest MMO ad EVER!!!!

This speeks for itself. Just too damned funny.

"If God had wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates." - Jay Leno

OMG!!! That is frakking hilarious. The sad thing is that it's also absolutly true.

The DDO Patch Srver broke my game!

KHAAAAAANN!!!

(FYI That's geek for letting off steam.)

EDIT: They got it back up and running correctly the next day. I thought for sure I was in for a full reinstall and download of the 2 gigs worth of patches. That woulda killed another day.

Planet Hulk The Movie?!

Just found this on Youtube

Awwww YEAH!

Picked up Dungeons and Dragons Online.... Again

I got invited to the BETA for the new "DDO" (Dungeons and Dragons Online at http://www.ddo.com .) I have to say I like the direction, it's a fantastic way to entice people in bascially the game is FREE! Sounds crazy but they've got lots and lots of other ways to get money out of you. Selling Premium Content, classes, ect. The game itself hasnt changed much but a few brilliant addidtions have been added like Hirelings. If your putting a group together but can't find a cleric or figther, you can get a hireling instead of a real player. As for the core of the changes though basically the idea is you sign up and play low levels for free then at higher levels you have to pay to access certain content, but in thoery you can reach the higher levels. Still even at low levels there are certain quest lines that will be labeled "premium" you'll want to play, they're just more fun and nail that DnD flavor. It got me excited about it enough to resubscribe to the old one. It'll be short lived though, the New Version called Ebberon is set to relase on 9/9/09.

I'll probobly sign up for a VIP account. Basically my thinking on MMO's is that if I get hooked on them, I don't go out during the week get drunk and waste money. So that's $15/mo well spent if it's saving me hundreds on drinks. I do have to save that for the weekends though, I have to reserve time for chasing chicks getting hammered and throwing up a lot.

EDIT: Ya know, this is the 4th time or maybe 5th time I've restarted with this game. Why am I thinking it's going to work with this version of the game THIS time. I really want this game to not suck but my god the community sucks ass. I guess I can use it to kill time for getting Champions Online.

Finally Quit Smoking!

"FUCK YOU IT'S EASY!"

Little Quote I picked up from my mom there when she quit smoking for the dozenth or so time. It really encapsulates what it takes to quit smoking. Came into work today feeling sick. It's definitely that jonesing body needs nicotine nausea.

So I was watching the end of the show Video Blog for one of my favorite shows Battlestar Galactica. The prop master gets her turn and shows off the cigarettes they've been using in the show. Nicotine Free HoneyRose Cigarettes! My jaw hit the floor. Nicotine Free?!? Holy Shamolies that's awesome! That has to be the best stop[ smoking tool out there! Why'd I just hear about it now?! So I went looking for them at every herbal suppliment and health food stores I could find. But no luck, apparently they're not sold in the US. Tabacco companies probobly made them illigal by passing a law with the political vending machine in Washington. Anyway once I figured that out I immediately find their website http://www.honeyrose.co.uk/ and put in an order. Says 6-8 weeks for delivery, and they're not kidding. Mine arrived in 8 weeks to the day. I ordered an assortment of everything, Flavored, normal, ginseng, ect. Got about a 2 week supply.

At first it was a little weird I was definitely jonesing with Nicotine fits while smoking. Then on day three I got busy doing some stuff and started chain smoking em because I was jonesing for nicotine. I was chain smoking the normal ones most of the day then I started chain smoking with the ginseng variety, made me SICK. Not quite to the point of puking but definitely nauseated and I noticed I started to cringe when I reached for another one. I thought to myself HOLY CRAP it's working! I need to keep chain smoking these ginseng cigs! I made sure after that if I reached for a cigarette it was ginseng. After stopping chain smoking them the nausea went away but I still cringed for 2 days after that every time I reached for a smoke. Problem was the nicotine fits where just a little stronger than the cringing.

Then I ran out of the ginseng cigarettes the next day and was left with the flavored and foofy cigarettes. Oh well, I figured I'd just nurse them and ween myself off them. It's been 4 weeks now, I'm still nicotine free and haven't had any smokes at the office for 2 weeks and haven't smoked at home or anywhere else in 2 days. I've still got a pack of Honeyrose at the office and here at home. Mostly it's so I can tell myself I don't need it anymore. Makes me feel safe I guess that if I do get an urge I've got the nicotine free packs around still.

If anyone tries this in the future. Get the ginseng and make yourself sick, chain smoke 'em. I honestly think it'll make ya quit easier.

This Steroid Documentary Looks interesting

It's called Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
http://biggerstrongerfastermovie.com/



I'll post a review sometime this week.

EDIT 7/5/09
Finally got to finish watching this on Netflix streaming (which totally rocks BTW.) I have to admit it was pretty damned good. I remember feeling those same pressures to "Achive Greatness!" At least when I did it it was to recover from the back injury, worked for me. I can honestly say you bet your ass I'd do it again. I never did get into when I was actually lifting competitively though.

The bit noting the amount of time the US Government spent debating steroids in baseball vs debating the freaking war in Iraq and other places was a little disturbing. Not to mention the raw ignorance of the Government on the Topic, they clearly don't know what they're talking about and just fan the flames of ignorance to create a scandal over here, to keep us from looking over there. They're debating this over wars and they don't even understand the subject matter. Heh.

Now that I think about it, it's pretty much the same for the war on drugs, it's all slight of hand. Don't look over here, ohhh look at that.

My take on Aliens

I was talking with a friend a few months ago and I had an interesting thought about the Aliens called the Grey and how Aliens tend to be "Humanoid." It's arrogant to belive that aliens would be in any way humanoid (2 amrs, 2 legs, and a head.) There's no real advantage to the form over others but I realized there is one possibility that makes perfect sense. The Grey's are not aliens at all, they're evolved humans. Imagaine a day in 10 million years humans have evolved to the point that time and space travel are common place. What would Humans look like that far in the future?

And a high school history field trip to early humanity accidentally crashes in Roswell New Mexico...

I think that Hypothesis is far more likely than the Grey being of alien origin should they actually exist.

D&D PSA's

These are oldies but goodies. Freaking hilarious.

This one is the classic with the Hex Blade Athene who got cursed and turned into a chick and is now Athena then there is Tordek on dwarven culture! Classic stuff.



This one... Invisible freaking Christopher Walken!

Finally got around to watching the TV series Jericho

My Buddy Jason tried to get me to watch it a while back but I didn't want to just jump in the middle of the show and wanted to watch it from the beginning since it sounded pretty good. Now that I've got NetFlix streaming video I can watch the whole damned series online! It's friggin awesome I'm gonna have to get the boxed set of this show now. I heard that my old favorite show the new Battlestar Galactica had some stiff competition but I nevr tore away from BSG to watch Jericho. I have a feeling though that Jericho will have the same problem that BSG suffered from. The series won't live up to the pilot episode with all those nukes putting the fear of god in ya.

UPDATE: 06/13/09
I finished watching the series, I gotta admit I was surprised it really came across like it wasn't cut early but instead they ended it on their terms instead of dragging it out because they realized it would probably suck if they dragged it on longer than the meat of the main storyline allows.