So the 1.3 patch for SOCOM: Confrontation came out today, and all I have to say is "Thank you Slant Six." Finally, FINALLY, SOCOM is fun to play. Though, I'll still never completely forgive them for releasing the game in such a bad condition. Even though I was never a really big SOCOM fan, I still felt like they betrayed the franchise. But I guess the redeemed themselves to an extent. So that will probably take up the majority of my multiplayer gaming time (well, that and Left4Dead and CoD: World at War now that I can actually refresh the server list!).
So my plan is to play through Uncharted, Battlefield: Bad Company, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, and Grand Theft Auto IV over the next couple of months (hopefully getting most of it out of the way before Killzone 2 comes out). Why? Trophies! I think I'll start with Uncharted today before I go to work. I don't plan on going for Platinum trophies right now for most of those games. I am really close to getting the Platinum in Burnout Paradise -- all I need to do is get my Burnout license and then send a Mugshot...though I don't have a camera yet. I'm also pretty sure the Platinum trophy for Uncharted is within my grasp, so I'll probably go for that too.
Speaking of work, it's really nice being able to go back and work at Fazzini's. The people there are fun to work with and I'm good at what I do. Everybody there loves the crap out of me too, which is good because it's a job I will be able to fall back on throughout my college career. That kind of job security is really nice these days. So when I'm not gaming I'll be working, and when I'm not working I'll be gaming. I'm not going to be able to go back to college until Fall of this year, so until then it's going to be nice a relaxing.
I also have a LittleBigPlanet level that I'm working on. It's nothing very innovative or crazy cool, but so far I think it's pretty well-done. I have absolutely no idea when I'll end up finishing it, as I just don't have the time with this "backlog" of mine (calling it a backlog is kind of a misnomer because I've already played all the games I need to play). By all rights I could have had it done so long ago, but I hit this wall for some reason and I haven't been able to get past it. Maybe playing more community levels will reignite my desire to get something of my own out there.
On a related note, the Metal Gear Solid pack that came out for LBP was absolutely fantastic. I recommend it to everyone. I didn't think that anything could make Metal Gear "cute," but this sure did. The premise behind it was great too: Liquid Ocelot had an auto-level creator that just made Trophy-whoring levels. Great stuff. I hope (and I'm sure) that LBP gets this kind of support in the future.
After some more thought, I've decided that I'm probably not going to end up buying another 360, despite the fact that I've said before that I will. I don't know, my PS3 and PC serve every gaming purpose I need. I don't feel like I'm missing out by not having a 360 (or a Wii, for that matter). I'm pretty satisfied. Don't get me wrong though, that's not a knock against either the 360 or the Wii (and if you know me you know that's not supposed to be a knock), it's just that I don't need either system.
To go further, I'm probably going to sell my DS, as the only thing I use that for is...Sudoku. Which I can easily live without. I'd say the same for my PSP, but for my birthday my brother got me a $20 PSN card, and with it I bought the LBP MGS add-on and two PS1 Classics: Destruction Derby and Crash Bandicoot. I put the PS1 Classics on my PSP, and now I use that thing all the time. It's fantastic! I look forward to buying Jet Moto when I get some more cash. Resistance: Retribution looks like it's going to be pretty sweet too, especially with the connectivity it'll have with Resistance 2 (which was discussed at Sony's CES press conference).
Christmas from my dad was delayed a bit (probably won't happen until the end of the month) because of taxes, college, expenses, etc. You know the deal. I've been thinking about what I want to get from him, and I think I want to get a 3G iPhone. AT&T apparently has a $100/month service plan that gives you unlimited EVERYTHING: internet use, text messages, etc. I'll probably get that (because I'll be able to afford it now that I' working yay!), and as a result I'll probably get fully addicted to Twitter. I already have an account (which is simply GlenHaupt), but it's not the most practical thing to update when you're just sitting at your computer (I can just hit up my Facebook status). When I'm on the go, though, a thought might pop into my head or I might see something interesting and want to spread it around, and Twitter is perfect for that!
I'll also be able to stalk people like Shawn Elliot and Adam Savage ENDLESSLY...
Now, onto sadder news. 1UP.com is a shell of its former self, and EGM is dead. This seriously sucks. First GFW magazine, now EGM and 1UP?! It sucks. I don't know what UGO was thinking. I can understand letting EGM go, but firing most of the great talent that made the 1UP network what it is? That was just a damn stupid thing to do. I loved 1UP. It didn't feel like every other gaming website. I felt more connected to the staff, more involved. However, I had always like the GFW staff the most (Shawn Elliot, Jeff Green, Ryan Scott, etc.), so the bulk of those guys leaving was hard, but now, with almost nobody left...it's sad. And EGM...besides Game Informer, EGM is the only other magazine I subscribe to. I mean, Game Informer is fine and all, but EGM was tops as far as gaming magazines are concerned. Such is life, I suppose.
But anyway, I hope they all get really great job soon, because they more than deserve it. Sorry to end on a ajor downer like this, but I need to hurry up and get my Uncharted on before my shift starts.
Oh, but before I do, Burn Notice! Coming back Jan. 22! Whoo!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Going Back to Work, College Limbo.
I don't know if I mentioned this, but Fazzini's the place I've worked at for the last few years (while not in college) was closed down about a month ago. Something to do with the rent or payment to the previous owner; I don't really know many details. So for a while there I was wondering what I was going to do for a job once the fall semester let out. Jobs are pretty scarce right now, and I wasn't about to work at some fast food joint because that sounds like such a shitty job.
Luckily, though, I got a call from my old manager saying everything was getting sorted out and Fazzini's was going to reopen in early January. Kind of flattering that they called me up after I hadn't worked there since I left for college months ago. But then again, they love me over there at Fazzini's because I'm good at it and I'm reliable. So that all will be a nice boost to my future resume (fuck the accents in that word).
The title of this entry is kind of misleading. I don't mean to say that work is college's limbo (although that does make some sense, when I think about it), I mean that I'm literally stuck in a limbo of sorts. I'm not enjoying UMBC, and by that I mean I'm not enjoying the standard 4-year-to-get-a-BS setup and everything that entails. It just feels too damn much like High School, and there's no way I'm putting up with that bullshit for 3 more years. The only thing that UMBC offers me right now is convenience because it's only a 45 minute commute from my house (not that that matters because I lived on campus anyway).
The food was terrible, the general classes that you need to take to graduate were either annoying and useless (like English 100, a class in which I learned nothing) or do not sound appealing in any way (like Physical Education -- yes, fucking P.E.!). It is just straight-up not what I want to get out of college. That combined with the fact that I don't even really want to be a programmer within the video game industry makes UMBC the wrong place.
So it's not just UMBC that isn't right for me, it's conventional college in general. I don't want to spend four years being distracted from my major by having to take these bullshit classes that I already took -- for free -- in High School. I think back to when I was first looking at colleges, and my first choice was a school called Collin's College out in Arizona that had a strictly game design-oriented program. I was actually originally supposed to go there, but something went wrong that I can't really explain (not because I don't want to, but because I really don't know exactly what went wrong). For some reason they just stopped talking to my father (the person who is paying for everything), and sent me an application with a pages missing after I had already been accepted there. So bollocks to that.
Regardless, I figure that's what I want to get out of college. To me, college is one of two things, or a combination of both: It's a learning experience or it's a business decision. But I'm tired of learning experiences. I've been doing that for my entire life. I want college to be a place where I become a expert on something specific. I have always been something of a jack of all trades, master of none. I'm not bad at any one thing -- I can do math, I'm a great writer, I know history, I know enough about science, and I'm well-read. But I don't excel at any one thing. There are people who are extremely creative but can't understand algebra and people who are great with numbers but can't draw for shit. I was always just average at everything.
Going to a four year college, so far, has felt like nothing but a continuation of that. I've been looking into Full Sail, a college down in Florida, which has a great-looking game design program. It's a 2-year deal with long work weeks. That's what I want. No distractions, no prerequisites to graduate beyond what is pertinent to game design.
No, as far as "college limbo" is concerned, I use that term because I'm sort of stuck between UMBC and Full Sail. I haven't severed all ties with UMBC yet, and I don't have everything sorted out with Full Sail yet. I imagine what is going to end up happening is I'm going to go to Full Sail in the Fall of 2009 and simply work at Fazzini's until then. I'll go to Full Sail for 2 years, working at Fazzini's during breaks, graduate, and then work at Fazzini's again until I get picked up by a game development house.
That's the plan anyway. My plans have already been dramatically altered twice, so who knows what will happen.
Christmas was good. I got a brand spanking new GeForce GTX 280, one of the best nVidia cards on the market. Fallout 3 and Far Cry 2 used to run a little iffy, but now they run smooth as silk. I love it. Crysis still gives me problems though -- I think I need to overclock my processor.
There haven't really been any game releases recently, but I'm still looking forward to Killzone 2 and Resident Evil 5 early next year. Until then I think I'll get back to Stalker: Clear Sky, which was put on hold back when it came out in September. I also haven't barely touched MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, and the SOCOM patch is finally coming out in early January. FINALLY.
So that's what I've been up to: thinking about my college future and installing video cards. 'Tis a good life.
Luckily, though, I got a call from my old manager saying everything was getting sorted out and Fazzini's was going to reopen in early January. Kind of flattering that they called me up after I hadn't worked there since I left for college months ago. But then again, they love me over there at Fazzini's because I'm good at it and I'm reliable. So that all will be a nice boost to my future resume (fuck the accents in that word).
The title of this entry is kind of misleading. I don't mean to say that work is college's limbo (although that does make some sense, when I think about it), I mean that I'm literally stuck in a limbo of sorts. I'm not enjoying UMBC, and by that I mean I'm not enjoying the standard 4-year-to-get-a-BS setup and everything that entails. It just feels too damn much like High School, and there's no way I'm putting up with that bullshit for 3 more years. The only thing that UMBC offers me right now is convenience because it's only a 45 minute commute from my house (not that that matters because I lived on campus anyway).
The food was terrible, the general classes that you need to take to graduate were either annoying and useless (like English 100, a class in which I learned nothing) or do not sound appealing in any way (like Physical Education -- yes, fucking P.E.!). It is just straight-up not what I want to get out of college. That combined with the fact that I don't even really want to be a programmer within the video game industry makes UMBC the wrong place.
So it's not just UMBC that isn't right for me, it's conventional college in general. I don't want to spend four years being distracted from my major by having to take these bullshit classes that I already took -- for free -- in High School. I think back to when I was first looking at colleges, and my first choice was a school called Collin's College out in Arizona that had a strictly game design-oriented program. I was actually originally supposed to go there, but something went wrong that I can't really explain (not because I don't want to, but because I really don't know exactly what went wrong). For some reason they just stopped talking to my father (the person who is paying for everything), and sent me an application with a pages missing after I had already been accepted there. So bollocks to that.
Regardless, I figure that's what I want to get out of college. To me, college is one of two things, or a combination of both: It's a learning experience or it's a business decision. But I'm tired of learning experiences. I've been doing that for my entire life. I want college to be a place where I become a expert on something specific. I have always been something of a jack of all trades, master of none. I'm not bad at any one thing -- I can do math, I'm a great writer, I know history, I know enough about science, and I'm well-read. But I don't excel at any one thing. There are people who are extremely creative but can't understand algebra and people who are great with numbers but can't draw for shit. I was always just average at everything.
Going to a four year college, so far, has felt like nothing but a continuation of that. I've been looking into Full Sail, a college down in Florida, which has a great-looking game design program. It's a 2-year deal with long work weeks. That's what I want. No distractions, no prerequisites to graduate beyond what is pertinent to game design.
No, as far as "college limbo" is concerned, I use that term because I'm sort of stuck between UMBC and Full Sail. I haven't severed all ties with UMBC yet, and I don't have everything sorted out with Full Sail yet. I imagine what is going to end up happening is I'm going to go to Full Sail in the Fall of 2009 and simply work at Fazzini's until then. I'll go to Full Sail for 2 years, working at Fazzini's during breaks, graduate, and then work at Fazzini's again until I get picked up by a game development house.
That's the plan anyway. My plans have already been dramatically altered twice, so who knows what will happen.
Christmas was good. I got a brand spanking new GeForce GTX 280, one of the best nVidia cards on the market. Fallout 3 and Far Cry 2 used to run a little iffy, but now they run smooth as silk. I love it. Crysis still gives me problems though -- I think I need to overclock my processor.
There haven't really been any game releases recently, but I'm still looking forward to Killzone 2 and Resident Evil 5 early next year. Until then I think I'll get back to Stalker: Clear Sky, which was put on hold back when it came out in September. I also haven't barely touched MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, and the SOCOM patch is finally coming out in early January. FINALLY.
So that's what I've been up to: thinking about my college future and installing video cards. 'Tis a good life.
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