verbosity

It's all downhill from here

In the second half of radioactive decay, or Half-Life 2, you might say...

As the poor saps who had to deal with my email rants can testify, I am thoroughly impressed with HL2's physics in the same way that Absath of Ctrl-Alt-Del is:

Half-Life 2 has amazed me. I played for about twenty minutes last night, and I spent about half of that time throwing televisions and objects out the windows in that first apartment building. The physics are just incredible.

I did the same bloody thing! :) Heck, yesterday I killed one of the big Antlion Guard things by ripping sinks off a wall and firing them. That's using the environment to its fullest.

I've lost all faith in GameSpot's reviews. I'm refreshed at times when I see them bash a game that truly sucks, and it renews my confidence in them, but they've gone too far this time:
Halo 2 - score of 9.4
Half-Life 2 - score of 9.2
Way to be part of the Hype Machine guys, and way to buy into your own verbal vomitings and inflated expectations. Halo 2 is an alright game, but it's nowhere near the league of Half-Life 2. Don't get me wrong, HL2 has a few problems, and I agree with most of the faults that the GameSpot reviewer points out. Overall though, it's an incredible game, fiendishly fun, and well deserving of a low-to-mid 9's score.

Halo 2, however, is not. Visually it's better than its predecessor, but not by much. The gameplay, level design (haven't we been here before? Ooh, more corridors!), and weapons are a bit better, but not by much. The A.I. could certainly use some work in pathfinding; characters get confused on how to navigate around objects, sometimes to the point of where they just give up on moving altogether (pacifist foes). The story is lacking and the campaign somewhat boring, just like the first Halo. Halo 2 really feels just like an expansion pack. It's been 3 years Bungie, what have you done all this time? If Half-Life 2 had been released in 2001, running off a virtually unmodified Quake 2 engine, with a few new guns (no gravity gun, obviously), and o.k. level design, would you only dock 0.3 points off the already inflated score of the original (9.7 for Halo?! Did the reviewer not play Half-Life and understand that story, gameplay, and level design are important to a game?)? No, it'd get slammed for being a virtual level pack. You must innovate, you must improve, and you absolutely must address the faults of the first game in a series if you want a high score. Halo 2 is what Halo 1 should have been, but it's still a ways away from what deserves a mid 9's score. Maybe Halo 3 will deliver a complete experience across the board? Anyone else feeling a Matrix analogy in the gaming world here? Deity save us if Halo 3 decides to blow it all in the same way.

Imagine if GameSpot had only given Halo 2 a 8.5 though...the fanboys would freak, and GameSpot can't afford to lose mone...cough, readers. And look at me; I spent way more time bitching about Halo 2 and GameSpot then I did praising HL2. Bad Blaine, more happy thoughts. Oh well, HL2 speaks loudly enough for itself, just go play it.

Oh, and Metroid Prime 2 is pretty darn good. Losing 0.6 points off the original's score, though mostly being a re-tune? New weapons, new levels, new enemies (Hey Halo, check that idea out!), new story, tuned-up graphical engine? Seems a little generous, even if the gameplay and story are darn good; I'd say subtract more points. Wait, the gameplay and story are great, some of the slighly annoying things (e.g. scanning) in the original were improved, and multiplayer was added, so 0.6 off is about right. The differences are nearly identical to what Halo 2 has done, yet Halo 2 has much weaker story and gameplay, didn't add any major features, and is only 0.3 points down...something isn't right.

Sigh. I'm done. Any decent game-rating sites out there? Yeah, I know about GameRankings; I'm looking for personal recommendations for individual sites.

Alternate reality

I've been playing the World of Warcraft beta for a bit now, and I'm absolutely loving it. Combined with all the other great games that I've recently bought or will be acquiring soon, I may have to give up Real Life for a while. Takes me back to my EverQuest days...Thankfully, my S.O. appears to be rather forgiving of my hobby; perhaps I can get her hooked on WoW as well. We could take our virtual characters on grand virtual adventures in a wonderful virtual world, together!

<grin>

Canadia here we come

Thanks Dan Savage of Savage Love (text is not work-safe, though there's no pr0n pics) for the following funny link:

http://www.marryanamerican.ca/

The poor elect

http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4045

Too funny. Too much truth in there, though (assuming no voting hacks -- Was OGC ported to the Diebold game?).

Required reading

VotersUnite! has a database of election problems, including a machine-malfunction category. Our very own Sarpy county in Nebraska had 3000 phantom votes. That error was found and corrected; imagine the impact of all the other likely machine problems that are yet undetected.

Other sites to visit once or many times:

http://www.blackboxvoting.com/
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/
http://www.votergate.tv/

I recommend remaining skeptical of our reported election results, of the theories of vote-challengers, and the claims of vote-defenders. Just the facts, ma'am.

More voting games, in another swing state

Why isn't this stuff getting more press?! (insert conspiracy theories here):

Interestingly, none of the complaining emailers took issue with the remarkable results out of Cuyahoga County, Ohio. In 29 precincts there, the County’s website shows, we had the most unexpected results in years: more votes than voters.

I’ll repeat that: more votes than voters. 93,000 more votes than voters.

Oops.

Talk about successful get-out-the-vote campaigns! What a triumph for democracy in Fairview Park, twelve miles west of downtown Cleveland. Only 13,342 registered voters there, but they cast 18,472 votes.

Vote early! Vote often!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6368819/#041109a

v0t3 h@x0r3d?

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1106-30.htm
or
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/110804Z.shtml

I full expected claims to surface that the vote, especially the Florida totals, were tampered with. I had concerns long before the election. I did not expect such a shocking report though.

I wait for more news with bated breath. Too bad something blatantly wrong didn't show up, like having Bruce Schneier win an entire state.

Depo....Despot

Little Gamers has a shirt for sale:

Go Swedes.

11 days

May Ohio's provisional ballots, when counted in 11 days, secure Bush's defeat. May all those votes still not counted elsewhere secure Bush's defeat. God save this country from Bush.

EDIT: Above link was referring to the November 1st post, but in light of recent events, the 3rd's is also wholly appropriate.

entrance polling

You must be at least this tall to ride the voting machine.

It's not logistically feasible, and there's no way it'd ever pass a vote, but I firmly believe there should be a minimum intelligence level required to vote. If you can't understand the issues, make sound logical conclusions, vote based on more than a face or a name, etcetera etcetera, then you have no business taking part in the decision-making for your country, state, county or city.

Stupidity I personally observed today at the poll:

- people in the wrong line. There were two lines, one for last names (although the "last name" part was implied, but if you fail that deduction, you don't get to vote) begining with A thru L, and one for M thru Z. These line designations were indicated in no less than three places. It took me over an hour to reach the front of my line, plenty of time to locate and read those signs multiple times. This ain't the grocery market people; you can't just hop in the short queue.

- People at the wrong polling place. Granted, this is a common and easy mistake to make, especially when the zone boundries have changed or the polling location has moved since last voting time. However, if there are multiple colored maps along the waiting line that indicate you're in the wrong bloody spot, you would do well to consider going elsewhere. But, if you really want to wait an hour in one place, then wait an additional hour somewhere else, be my guest.

- A man being excessively forceful with his fussy baby. I almost blew the whistle because it was approaching a serious level. No vote for him; he's a bad daddy.

- A girl blocking the exit door. A glass door, opening out, the lass standing in the swing path. I hit the crash bar, making a fairly noticeable noise, and nearly clocked the dear before stopping the door short. She didn't notice or move for a good five seconds. Voting privilege revoked; basic common-sense and observational abilities not met.

- People voting for Bush. :)

Of course, if my requirement for minimum voter intelligence were implemented, we'd need to enact a similar measure that would surely disqualify a certain presidential candidate.

Kerry, bringing complete sentences back to the White House.