"I am the bobbzman, they are the bobbzmen, I am the walrus..."
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Alex Bobbs' LiveJournal:
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| Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 | | 12:15 pm |
Game Reviews Round 11
Titles Covered: New Super Mario Brothers Wii, Ghostbusters, Mario and Sonic at the Winter Games, Silent Hill 3, Escape from Monkey Island, Castlevania Lament of Innocence, Final Fantasy X-2, Scribblenauts. ( Read more... ) | | Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 | | 7:14 pm |
Memo to self...
When going to Target (the Walmart-esque store), first ensure you are not wearing a red polo shirt and khaki pants. | | Friday, November 13th, 2009 | | 8:49 pm |
Even More Netflix Reviews
Five from my quest to complete the AFI Top 100 Films list (speaking of which, are you still going with this, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) bennj?) and five others: Swing Time, Tootsie, Night at the Opera, Do the Right Thing, Goodfellas, Alice in Wonderland (1999 version), Equilibrium, Battle for Terra, Taken, and Battlestar Galactica Season 4. ( Read more... ) | | Saturday, October 17th, 2009 | | 3:44 pm |
Public Service Announcement
Dear people who like to take their families to UA football games: Parking at and around the university is free on weekends. The "Event Parking" is actually the only place you have to pay, and a lot of it isn't even close to the stadium. Why are you all parking there? Sincerely, Someone who's been beating the system for 6 years | | Friday, October 16th, 2009 | | 12:28 am |
OMG, Super Mario is dead!(Well, one of the faces of the Super Mario Trinity, in any case. Let's hope nothing happens to Charles Martinet or Bob Hoskins) | | Sunday, October 11th, 2009 | | 11:53 pm |
My stupendous Flash project, continued...
No, it's not Geek Quest 4. Amidst other projects like trying to get through grad school, I finally finished the second episode of my music-RPG series. This one required a metric buttload of coding since I basically had to make all the RPG systems like managing equipment and completing dungeon crawls. Anyway, if you'd like to check it out: Part I (originally posted several months ago): http://www.u.arizona.edu/~abobbs/hero.htmlPart II: http://www.u.arizona.edu/~abobbs/hero2.htmlIf you complete Part I, you can load your character sheet into Part II. Otherwise, you will be given preset stats. Basic Controls: On the map: Cursor keys to move and select dialogue options. Enter to interact with something, talk to someone, or advance dialogue. Tab to bring up your character sheet. Shops/Character Sheet: Use mouse to make selections In battle: Cursor keys to make selections and hit beats, Enter to confirm, Mouse to hit ranged targets. I'm not sure how to balance the difficulty, so I mostly need feedback on that aspect. At minimum, even if you have nothing else to say, please let me know how difficult you find it to hit each type of beat marker: (1) The yellow "quick attack" marker, (2) the red "strong attack" sequences, (3) the "range attack" mouse buttons, and (4) the arrowed "defense markers". Defense markers are supposed to be quite hard to hit, whereas quick attacks are supposed to be easy, and the rest should be somewhere in between. The combat engine is coded to be pretty robust and flexible, so I can easily change just about anything. ( Detailed game mechanics... probably way more text than anyone wants to read ) | | Monday, September 28th, 2009 | | 11:57 am |
Game Reviews Round 10
Titles Covered: Klonoa, The Conduit, Madworld, DK Jungle Beat (Wii Version), TMNT Smash-up. Strong Bad's Game (Episode 2), Contra Rebirth, Majora's Mask, and Silent Hill 2
( Read more... ) | | Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 | | 1:00 am |
More Netflix Reviews
Stuff covered: City Lights, On the Waterfront, Double Indemnity, Chinatown, Gone with the Wind, North by Northwest, Grave of the Fireflies, Dances with Wolves, Gran Torino, and Battlestar Galactica Season 3. ( Read more... ) | | Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 | | 3:56 pm |
Video Game Review: Evil Genius
Usually, I compile a series of short console game reviews, mostly rentals, and do them altogether. I felt this one deserved a lot more discussion space, both for its good and bad qualities, and because I think most people have never heard of it. And really, any game where you play an evil genius deserves my attention. ( Read more... )Overall, Evil Genius is one of the most fascinatingly and frustrating games I've seen. It has many, many incredibly novel ideas and a lot of content, but also suffers from uneven gameplay and challenges that can simply be irritating. Honestly, I hope they make a sequel some day, and iron out the rough bits. In particular, if they rework the base defense and research systems, and vamped up world domination mode a bit, we'd have the greatest simulation game since Civilization II. | | Thursday, August 13th, 2009 | | 1:43 pm |
Question for board-gamers
Are the expansions to Carcassonne worth getting? Backstory: I've started a weekly gaming group at my church that's been going on for about a year, and mostly revolves around Settlers and Seafarers (and their 6-player expansions), with the occasional game of Risk thrown in. We've decided to expand our repertoire and I wanted to include Carcassone. I then discovered this, which is vaguely tempting for just how much stuff it has, but it's a lot of money and I actually don't know much about the expansions that are included. At minimum I wanted to get whichever expansion lets you have up to six players, but I don't know about the rest. | | Monday, August 10th, 2009 | | 11:36 am |
Writing Projects
In case you don't know, I like to write stuff. Essays, novels, plays, screenplays, whatever. I don't typically worry about being published/produced when I write, although it would be nice if it ever happened again. It's a hobby. After completing Hamster of the Opera, I tried to find a literary agent, since I had been told this was the only chance of getting anything published. After 2 years of pitching the script, I finally gave up, and had a very negative impression of the entire experience. The problem wasn't that my script was rejected. I actually only got 1 rejection (based on a 1-page summary I wrote) and one pocket-veto, where the agency read my summary, asked for the entire script, and never got back to me. That's fine. I accept that anything titled "Hamster of the Opera" by an unknown author is going to be a tough (if impossible) sell. What irked me was that most of the rest of the 30+ agencies I tried to work with simply said, "Sorry, we only work with people who are already famous and have published a lot". I'm sure there's something useful the agent does, but it's not discovering new talent. South Park once did an entire episode on how talent agents are leeches who prey on people who don't need their help, and this rang true with my own experience. There were some exceptions to this among the lesser agencies that seemed to have no references or connections. Instead of turning me away, they demanded hundreds of dollars upfront. Fortunately, I had been warned about this: it's a scam. At best, you're paying someone hundreds of dollars to take your work and stick it in the mail, perhaps with a cover-letter from their unknown agency. More likely, they just take your money and do nothing. I concluded that if I would be better off drafting my own cover-letter from a made-up agency. It would probably have the same effect, and be much cheaper. I've recently thought about trying this again. I've accumulated a large number of projects. Many of them are at least somewhat finished, if unpolished. I still don't have any credentials or connections, so I don't know how I would pursue this idea or if it's worthwhile. But anyway, to refresh my memory, I compiled a list of all my large-scale writing projects and assessed their viability (considering mostly just the concept, not actual logistics of getting anything published or the fact that I'm not a professional writer). Anyway, here's my list of projects. Projects without links are ones I'm not ready to share yet. ( The List ) | | Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 | | 11:22 pm |
More Netflix Reviews
Films/Shows covered: W, Raging Bull, Slumdog Millionaire, Popeye, The General, All About Eve, Taxi Driver, LA Story, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Sunset Blvd, The Searchers, M*A*S*H (the movie), and Battlestar Galactica Season 2. I've sort of started on a project parallel to bennj, trying to finish the AFI Top 100 Films List, so a lot of these fall under that banner. ( Read more... ) | | Monday, July 20th, 2009 | | 8:03 am |
| | Sunday, July 12th, 2009 | | 1:27 am |
Game Reviews Round 9
Games Covered: Excite-bots, Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles, Mercury Meltdown Revolution, Castlevania Judgment, Deadly Creatures, Okami, Punch-out (virtual console, not the new one), World of Goo, Kindom Hearts Re-Chain of Memories, Guitar Hero Aerosmith, and We Love Katamari ( Read more... ) | | Friday, June 26th, 2009 | | 11:12 pm |
80's Nostalgia
You've probably all heard by now that Michael Jackson passed away. It's perhaps a bit cliché to start saying nice things about someone right after their death, but I really liked his music videos as a kid. My dad and I used to watch them and I loved the bizarre settings, special effects, and crazy dance moves. So in case you've forgotten (or never knew) just how outstandingly cool "Wacko Jacko" used to be, here's some nostalgia from my childhood: First the classic: Bad means "good"! Yes, it did... back in the 80's Second, from the most often referenced Jackson album: That weird horror short film with dancing zombies. It's kinda long and Michael doesn't sing until 5 minutes in, but if you haven't seen the whole video before, it's definitely worth a look. Third, with the best dance moves: Michael Jackson as a 1930's gangster. This was part of his feature film "Moonwalker", which itself was disappointing. Fourth, with epic scale and effects bordering on insanity: The one with that kid from "Home Alone".Finally, my personal favorite. What do you get when you combine the creator of Star Wars, the director of The Godfather, and the King of Pop? This awesome 3D music video. You'll just have to imagine what the 3D was like. | | Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 | | 10:55 pm |
| | Sunday, June 14th, 2009 | | 11:43 pm |
In which I put together another movie about my missionary adventures...
"A Mission to the Mayan World, Part 2" Run Time: 10 minutes Summary: Following our successful trip to "El Naranjal" in 2007, the Northminster mission team ventures out to the Yucatan once again in 2009, this time visiting the village "Huechen Balam" ("Well of the Jaguar" in Mayan). In contrast to the serious, matter-of-fact tone of my last video, I made this one a bit more comical, partly since it seemed redundant to explain pouring concrete again. Original File (big download...): http://www.u.arizona.edu/~abobbs/MissionTripFinalCut.wmvFacebook Video: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=724403856802&saved#/video/video.php?v=724403856802Notes: -The opening minute is from a sketch we did for all the services at our home church. Basically the idea is that there are 4 different people auditioning to go on the trip with different motivations. One believes she has been chosen by God, one is depressed by stories of third world suffering, one believes he is so smart that he can fix everything (I play this character), and one doesn't know why he's going, but figures he should anyway. -It was insanely hot that week. Hence my choice of music for the work montage. -We had not expected to be laying walls, so it was kind of a learning experience. Fortunately, we had professional supervision and eventually got it down. -Our tour of the Mayan ruins was so hilariously incoherent that I got my roommate to recreate it for everyone watching the video. I think we got an inexperienced guide... -I tried to get more footage of our 2 fun days, since I had none in the last video. The music is from this Homestar Runner cartoon.. Just in case anyone's wondering, the activities were paid for out of our own pockets. -While looking for inspiring role-call music, I found the complete World of Goo soundtrack. Seriously, check it out. And then get the game if you haven't already. | | Friday, June 5th, 2009 | | 10:13 am |
E3 reactions
To be clear, I am not at E3 right now. I got several emails reminding me to sign up, but declined because the dates ran straight into my trip to the Yucatan. At best I could have made it by the second day, and I would have been completely exhausted. So it didn't seem worth it. But since I feel like it, I'll be one of those uninformed bloggers I despise and write a brief digest on things I haven't actually seen but have heard about from other people. Microsoft: The lineup of games is predictable and probably has some good stuff, but it's not for me. We've got a genre I don't play (Forza Motorsport), a franchise I never liked (Halo), a sequel to a game I never cared about (Crackdown 2), and 2 more for franchises I initially liked but quickly got tired of (Call of Duty and Splinter Cell). Yawns all around. But wait a minute! What have we here? Some high-tech camera that can accurately translate 3D body motions, with voice recognition, facial expression analysis, and super-cool AI. No way! It's got to be smoke and mirrors! And... maybe it is. My jury is out on this one until I get some honest feedback on how well the thing actually works, and some information on how much it might cost. For the record, if it works, I'm really, really excited. I had pretty much decided before that I was never going to get a 360 (mostly due to reliability issues and a bad experience I had trying to get Microsoft to fix a friend's broken system) but if this actually becomes more than an attention-grabbing gimic, I might change my mind. Nintendo Mostly they announced stuff we already knew about. Wii Sports 2 is coming out, which I might or might not get. I don't have a constant crowd for party games, but we'll see. Good Wii party games are always a hit with a mixed group of friends and family, but I don't play them otherwise. They showed more some rail shooters (Dead Space Extraction and Resident Evil Darkside), which I like, but am a little tired of. These games both look pretty scary, however, so that aspect grabs my attention. And there's a cyberpunk Halo wannabe (The Conduit). I'll at least give it a rental when it comes out, but my feeling so far is that it's going to be "OK". The new peripheral this year is apparently a "vitality sensor", which measures your heart beat or something. I guess it must be a component for Wii Fit and its library of exercise software. Otherwise, I'm just scratching my head. The other big peripheral is that Wii motion plus thing, which we already knew about. Is it a significant upgrade to the Wiimote? I don't know. We'll have to see how Wii Sports 2 and Red Steel 2 turn out. Three big surprises came from Nintendo's big franchises. Mario Galaxy 2 is coming. Now, I'm always looking for something NEW, not just another iteration of the same concept, but Mario Galaxy was so fantastic that I'd buy a sequel without a second thought, and the trailer displayed some cool level ideas. Another, more original Mario game is a side-scrolling multiplayer game where you compete against other people to grab coins and stuff. "New Super Mario Brothers" on the DS did something like this and it wasn't terribly expansive, but it was still a lot of fun. I'm not completely sold yet, but it definitely has potential and James Rolfe (The "Angry Video Game Nerd") had some nice things to say about it. And then, last but not least, there's a more action oriented Metroid game from the makers of Ninja Gaiden. I was hoping they would do this to the Zelda series since Link is more about close-range combat and all, but... this looks pretty dang cool. And really, the Metroid series has a pretty stunning track record. Sony Hey look, Sony is getting in on this motion-based control stuff too! Again! Unlike Project Natal, though, I'm not sure what it does that the Wii doesn't. As far as games, there are the usual sequels to things I haven't played (Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed 2, etc.), plus not one, but two Final Fantasy games coming out simultaneously. Wait a minute, didn't I first see FFXIII three years ago? This had better be one heck of a game. Then there's this awe-inspiring piece of work from the makers of ICO and Shadows of the Collosus, and the highly anticipated conclusion to the God of War series. And I'm sure God of War 3 will deliver what it promises: great graphics, huge, visceral action and an atrociously bad adaptation of the greek legends. And if any one of you actually made it to E3 this year, I look forward to hearing your much more informed opinions. | | Thursday, June 4th, 2009 | | 9:20 pm |
Terminator Salvation
It's... OK. Certainly not as good as I might have hoped for, nor as bad as I feared. And all told, it's probably appreciated best on its own, and not compared to any of the first 3 Terminator movies. I say this for two reasons: 1) It's not as good, and 2) it connects pretty poorly to the other movies. The future war looks nothing at all like how it appeared in T1, T2, T3, the Universal Studios show, or the TV series. The dark grey-blue ash is replaced with brown desert landscapes, the evil machines look like Transformers, and the improvised guerilla resistance looks more like a regular army, complete with standard 20th-century weapons. Actually, the entire movie looks like Transformers. John Connor is nothing like he's supposed to be. The entire franchise rests on Connor being so important that the fate of the war rests on him. We're told in the original movie that he organized the resistance and taught people to fight back. And in Terminator Salvation, he's not the leader! He's an officer with really no special qualities at all, aside from making some fire-side chat radio broadcasts. We're told that people view him as a messiah character, but why? At best the guy comes off as an above-average soldier. And Kate Brewster-Connor fares even worse. She's entirely pointless, serving little more than as a nod to T3. The action scenes are great at times, but I think more time was needed in the editing room to get them just right. They're actually choreographed and filmed really well, but there's a lot going on and it doesn't seem to flow smoothly. In one moment, someone will be in the front of the vehicle, then he'll be in the back, then there will be 2 terminators, and then 3, or maybe it's just 1 that you saw multiple times... A little more work could have made the action bits phenomenal, but as is, they're full of holes. The plot has some similar problems, as we jump between scenes without always getting the connections. In one particularly confusing moment, John Connor releases a bunch of people and yells at them to "Get to the transports!" Wait... What transports? All that said, the movie actually isn't bad. It's a fun little romp, and while the Connors pretty much suck, I really liked how they handled young Kyle Reese. He's a compelling and sympathetic hero who connects well to the Michael Bien version of the character. The new character Marcus Wright is also kinda interesting, and he has a scene near the end with Helena Bonham Carter which is actually pretty chilling. Young Ahnold makes a cameo via CGI and a body double, and it makes a lot of sense and creates an effective "Oh... Snap!" moment. Overall though, and I say this as a HUGE Terminator fan, wait for DVD. | | Thursday, May 14th, 2009 | | 9:46 pm |
Game Reviews Round Whatever
Titles covered: Call of Duty: World at War, House of the Dead Overkill, de Blob, Dead Rising Chop til You Drop, Warioware Smooth Moves, Tenchu Shadow Assassins, Mario Kart Wii, Sonic Unleashed, and Jak 3. ( Read more... ) |
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