I'm one of those people

I've officially crossed over. I've succumb to the masses and bought a copy of Guitar Hero. I picked it up last night and stayed up way to lay playing it and got up just to play it some more. Fucking game's addicting as hell. Should provide much drunken entertainment though this weekend as we all laugh at the idiot who's trying to pull of some mad drunken riffs. Here's to some Jager, some Jack and mad drunken Wii.

Being smote by the Gaming gods.

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A Moral Dilemma

So here's the problem I'm faced with. A while back I posted why EA Games in the Devil. Here is the rant I posted and to which started the ban of EA games. So up to this point it has not been too much of a problem. I have been able to stick to my guns. I have not played, bought, rented, etc., any EA title since the news of their spyware first circulated. I have stayed strong. I have not coveted their games, I have not longed to feel the joy they would bring to my life. I have moved on, grown and become a better person because of it.

However, Hellgate: London is being released later this month and I have been waiting for it for quite some time. For probably close to a year I have wanted to play this game. When I first heard about it there was no publisher. Fine I thought, it is being developed by a studio that has not used EA so I thought I was safe. Turns out I thought wrong. Flagship Studios has decided it would be in their best interest to let EA distribute this game for them. Why they thought this would be a good idea I will never know. Why developers keep flocking to EA to produce their titles is beyond my comprehension. My fragile little mind can not handle it.

I know that EA had very little to do with the development of the game. However, the publisher still has a lot more say so than they should when it comes to what is in the final release of a game. They dictate what features "need" to be removed from a game, what the patch schedule will be, and how the consumer will ultimately end up being screwed out of their hard earned money.

Do I stick to my guns and refuse to play this game, or do I cave in? This is the dilemma I am faced with. My will is strong. I can hold out. I can refuse to play this game. I have enough to play to keep me occupied for quite some time and not bend my will to the evil that is EA. I do want to play it though, I will covet this title and wish I had my hands on it, engrossed in its story, battling the forces of hell as they try to take over earth. If a single game will ever cause my will and hatred of EA to be broken, it will be this one.

I will remain strong....

Finally got a ride

Was finally able to go for a ride today. Man was it nice. Was a bit hot, but nothing beats hitting the open road on the bike. I was hoping with my time off this weekend that I'd get to for a couple of short day trips, but getting sick on Thursday put a damper on those plans. Today was the first day all weekend I felt up to riding. Granted I'm still not completely over it, still have the lingering cough and sinus congestion but that's easy enough to deal with when you don't feel like you're going to die. In my sickness to pass the time I've been playing a little Flight Sim 2004. Man I suck. I keep crashing into shit all over the place. My skills have gotten a bit better, but I still need a lot of work on how to actually land properly. Ok, time to start some laundry so I don't go to work nekkid tomorrow. Trust me, no one needs to see that... ever.

EA games is the new devil

If you a gamer like I am then I'm sure you aware of Battlefield 2142 and Need for Speed Carbon which are set to release in the very near future. While I could care less about BF (Battlefield), I am excited to play NFS (Need for Speed). While looking into the release a little further I stumbled across some very disturbing information. Both games are going to be released with mandatory spyware to target dynamic in-game advertisements. This spyware is going to read through your browser history and give you specific products that relate to web sites you have visited. If any other software manufacture included mandatory spyware computer users around the world would be upset. Because the game industry has complete control over what we see and how we see it no one seems to care. I couldn't find anyone complaining about this except for the story I found on slash dot. http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/06/10/17/1319235.shtml The only way that we as consumers can fight this is to refuse to buy and play these games. If the developers and producers see that their sales are suffering because of their decisions they will think twice about installing extra software that maliciously attacks your personal data. As you see on the left hand side the banner for boycott starforce, I am also boycotting Need for Speed Carbon and Battlefield 2142. Don't let the game industry take over. We need to stand together and fight back to get our points across.

What's worse about this is some malicious little hacker is going to reverse engineer these games and find a way to exploit the code that drives these dynamics ads. When this happens, any data on your computer is vulnerable to the world. We already have enough exploits dealing with Microshaft and all of their security bugs. We don't need to install software that will be a giant glowing advertisement to hackers to come and steal our personal data.

Join with me in this boycott. Let our voices be heard that we will not stand for this. We as consumers have the right to decide what we bring in our homes. If a company is going to steal our personal information then we should have no part in supporting them.

Neverwinter Nights: Phoenix Project

In playing Neverwinter Nights for some time now, Necromancer and I have decided to build a custom persistant world that fits our style of play as well as our own story line. This will be a very ambitious project and will take some time to complete. If you know nothing about NWN a persitant world is their equivalent to Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) but supports less players but allows for full customization by the creator. We are currently working on the story line and preliminary ideas. We are thinking of releasing this world after the release of Neverwinter Nights 2 in the early part of next year. So if you are a computer geek and know scripting, level building, character modeling etc., drop either one of us a line and let us know that you are interested. The official Phoenix Project website is currently under construction so check there often for the latest news.

If you aren't inclined to help us build a new world come join us online. We are currently playing on the Adventure Island (deeper dungeons) server that can be found in the multiplayer area after the game has been launched. Also, we have an official guild at nwn.bioware.com. We are the "Dread Pirates Brigade". Log on to the official site, click on search guilds and type in our guild name. Send us a request and you will be on your way to becoming a pirate.