The lost area... in SL!

One day, I learned about an area in Second Life where an area is different compared to the rest of Second Life in which nothing is sold on the area(other than buildings) and is more of a role playing area for just relaxing.
The area is filled with buildings and mysterious crystals, the buildings seem to have a setting of ancient Roman/Aztec. The buildings are completely empty and all the buildings are similar yet not a single one is the same. The area will sell buildings for people for around 48,000L but I haven't tried looking to in depth to it.
Crystals are mostly small and red, placed all over and have no purpose while two areas have giant pinkish/purple crystals ....which have no purpose as well... The best thing I noticed about the area is no flying billboards saying "go here", or "buy this!!" with flashing colors to attract the kiddies...
All in all it didn't truly catch my interest since it seemed to require a house to be bought before anything could be done or that what I noted...

OLD VIDEO GAMES

All right this time I am going to write about a very old video game that I think is a very good one. It is called Grandia and it follows the story of a young man named Justin and his journey as an adventurer. It seems that it is very sterotypical but I have never really noticed this because I really love this game. I mean this game is so good in my eyes that no matter what anyone else says (Alyssa and Allie.) it is not a lame game. But I must say this old quote before I go on any farther..." to each his/her own". Now that I have gotten that out of the way let me explain the story behind this original Grandia game. ( I  say original because there are a total of 3 Grandia that I know of.  If there are more then please LET ME KNOW!!!!!!).  Now it follows the story of a young man named Justin. Justin is first followed by his younger friend known as Sue. Sue is a little girl that has grown up with Justin and she lives with her aunt. oh and she has a little animal that sits on her head and it can apperantly fly and she calls it Puff because thats all it can say. but i digress...this game has a really good battle system for a PS1 game and the story (for its time was very original.) I am going to end this by saying that some times the old games are the very best ones out there...

P.S I am not feeling better emotionally but alas thats ok because I am ues to it...

Godzilla

Grouping guys and gals

Every now and then I come across someone online and I can truly interact with them how I would interact with a normal human being (or something smarter than a rock...). This is a rare event, given that all of the people who access the Internet grow an enormous ego and start acting like they are best at anything and everyone else is insignificant.

Most people online I ignore for the what group they belong to, and normally I don't stereotype in the real world but in the case of the Internet, everything is bass ackwards and stereotypes and ignore lists are the only thing I have to defend myself from fools, spammers, and leetspeaking trash talkers. The number one group I steer clear of is most likely the most abundant of them out there, the e-peen people. Thinking they are the best in the whole game/forum/taco stand, trying to get someone in a fight or match versus them and their "knowledge/skills".They think they will whoop whoever they challenge and when the foot goes in their mouth, they have the gull to attempt to reclaim some shattered dignity by calling their opponent a cheater/hacker/noob(what have you). Then, the e-peen person will try everything in their power to make them seem cheated out of victory and plug their ears in hope of the other person walking off from the annoying gibberish coming out of the e-peen's cake hole. So no matter what someone tries to do against them, they can't beat a rock in a stupid contest. And the situation worsens when the other person who challenged them is another e-peen person, almost the same effect as the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object. Many think, "well then why not just avoid them?" and I reply " Try ignoring the blinding sunlight in your eyes with them taped open", the only remedy is an ignore list.

The other big group I steer clear of are the under a rock people. I know it's not an official title but I call that group since it's the only thing I can think of when anyone from that group comes to mind. These people think that they are gamers, hardcode people, or better ice cream eater, whatever. But it's annoying when someone who played for three months think they have the game under wraps and are perfect at it, then just act like they have no idea what happens when beaten. But it's more than just that, people who think they know games then look at some genre they have no clue about talk like they know what's happening.

All in all it's the biggest reason why I choose to be anti-social on the web, most of the people I ever meet are within this group or something to the effect of it.

Free Blogging

OK....This time I am writing about the new world that we have been too today. Nautalis is a role playing game that is suppose to take place in the roman time and it is suppose to be fun but  I have no idea about anything from this time...it isnt like me to write about things that I have no Idea about...but since this is for class I suppose that it is rightly so...well lets make this quick and painless. This roleplaying arena is unique because you can't modify ANYTHING in this land area. If your too slow to know what that means please do your self a favor and STOP READING THIS BLOG!!!! But I will be nice and tell you if you are still reading. It basically means that you can't rezz anything in there and you cant move anything that is already on the ground. This isn't a bad thing because it makes this world almost scaraced mainly because no one can defile this land and the role players  can feel safe knowing that they wont have to worry about some idiot coming through and screwing up the whole land for every one else. ( we all know that someone out there would do it too.) any way I was mean in this blog...I dont really know why either....but mabey by the next one I will be feeling better then I am right now. :) 

Godzilla.

Immersive Workshops

Having meetings(workshops) on second life is a very cool thing.  SL users are using 2D graphics in there presentations and sharing of information.  The idea of 3D capability in presentations is great.  But there is some conflict between SL and SL's customers.  There are companies in SL that are coming out with programs that perform 3D presentations but Linden Labs wants to do the same thing... Interesting. 

For the most part that's all i got out of this article.  Money is needed to be made within SL and there are a few ways it can be done.  This is one of them.  

Bioshock

I have always wanted to play the game Bioshock but i never had the chance since I don't own a 360. Now that I live in the dorms I can play 360 games because my roommate has one. The game starts off in the year 1960 and you are in a plane over the Atlantic ocean. All of a sudden your plane crashes and you somehow survive and swim to a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean. You enter the lighthouse and enter an elevator. You then learn that you are entering an underwater city called Rapture. A man named Ryan created this city so scientists could get away from all the laws the constrain them. Scientists created a mutagin called Adam which allows genetic changes and lets them use Plasmids which could prevent hair loss or the ability to use telekenisis. You then meet a man named Atlas on a radio who offers to help you get out of Rapture as long as you help him save his wife and child. Throughout the game you have to get past bad guys called Splicers who are genetically modified humans sent by Ryan because he believes you are a CIA agent. You collect different Plasmids such as the ability to freeze people, set things on fire, and electrocute enemies. You also have different weapons such as a tommy gun, shotgun, and crossbows. This game is really fun and the different Plasmids are really fun to play around with. If you have the time, rent this game.

required post of doom

I think this article was an interesting read. It explanes how companies are starting to adopt virtual worlds into their works plans. I think that if a company can get past the learning curve, this could be benificial to a company. This could alow companies to work with their employees from the comfort of their own homes and would make the normal buisness meeting alot more fun to attend. The fact that Second Life is fully suportive of 3d could also add more features to a meeting. The presentations people give at them could be spiced up useing the create options of second life. The use of advatars would also allow for people to escape and racism or sexism if they can hide who they truly are.

Bored??? <:O

So i'm actually starting to get bored of my video games right now. Last time this happened it was because I had other things to take up my time. This time I think its becasuse every game I've played lately has been on that I've previously played. I guess I just need to take a break from them. If anyone has a game to recommend to me that would be amazing. Yeah...I guess I just don't really have much to say lately so once again, i'll stop here.

The Infection

As many of you know, the next expansion for World of Warcraft is comeing in two weeks. The event to celebrate the expansion is allready takeing place in game. What started by an infection turing players in to zombies from the town of Booty Bay has spread into pure chaos and is leaving major cities completly deserted and full of infected people and zombies. Also, one of the major forces of evil in Warcraft lore has started attacking zones around the game world. With each day, the plague of zombies grows worse and worse as more and more places become infected. This could possible be the largest world event ever to take place in wow history and is leaving the game world in ruins.

Reading

So I read the reading and it kinda went over my head. The only things that I really understood were the points about how businesses are beginning to use Second Life for meetings from long distances and how they are utilizing 2D and 3D in their presentations. I don't know, it just really wasn't that interesting to me. Then again, just because it wasn't interesting to me doesn't mean it wouldn't be interesting to someone else....somewhere. So yeah, since it didn't really make much sense to me, I don't really know what else to say about it soo....yeah...im just gunna stop now before I start rambling.

2D versus 3D

I believe that the posting that we had to review is right about the fact that 2D works well enough well display data and ideas and that Second Life isn't the bet idea to use for a 3D presentation. I also agree that Second Life does have a steep learning curve and that steep curve is a huge obstacle to get over to make Second Life as a viable alternative to a 2D presentation. I think that in the future when there are more people playing games that are similar to Second Life, but are an easier game to play, then a 3D presentation would be a good idea. So until a game that is similar but simpler then Second Life is created then a 2D system such as a power point, will still be used to convey data, statistics and many other things like them.

Required reading

I know, I know, I am coming up with this posting later then I normally do but hey I got it up and running didn't I. Now let me see here what was I going to say again? Ah I know...This article isn't that interesting to me as you might have though. Honestly I found my self lost after reading the first paragraph. The article is well written but other then that I can't find anything good to say about it. Because it went right over my head and just kept going and going. (sort of like the energizer bunny XD) I read that article three different times and still I think I barely got anything from it. IT was trying to inform the Masses about how business's are utilizing second life to try and make money off of it and I remember from class that twombly said that their were some companies that were making money off of SL.. But this article just isn't that interesting to me. Mainly because I enjoy playing second life but I don't really care about what it is used for. I like it because it is fun to play and  it allows me to be what ever I want to be. But when it comes to people actually utilizing this online world to make money and to take the business world by storm, I get bored. really,really, really quickly.

   anyway More coming soon from the one and only GODZILLA

I is looking fer work!

When I went to go to the link that I was was told, I wondered what it would be about. When I got done reading it, I can firmly agree that the old 2D stuff can get the job done easily. I think that Second Life at this point is a 3d version of multiple 2d items which a business probably wouldn't use. Second Life now seems like it wants to be able to work out as a program for Business and presentations.
But I digress, the topic's question, "Is there an untapped market for "Immersive Workspaces" in Second Life?". I would imagine it's not possible to find anything that someone or some business hasn't covered in Second life. Hippotech has so much software available for shops and such. There maybe a person can help learn how to make prims be some items that people would like. But otherwise I can't think of a job that would be open without any competetion, just as the author stated, even Linden Labs is having a hard time attempting to find something that someone else within their world has already taken.
All in all I would believe that Second Life missed the boat for being able to conquer it's work area and at least involve a feature or addon to make it more business friendly. By Business friendly, Something that doesn''t require alot of power to work, nor alot of special effects so that the business people would be distracted nor require a good pc to work.

So very Special...

I've always been down the middle on looks, I'm the opposite of a graphics-whore, yet I do like having my character not look like a sideshow for a circus. Which is why I hate many virtual worlds I've played, like World of Warcraft and such. At first, the character doesn't look special, then looks goofy, and after looking like a clown, a set of gear that matches and is good is finally in your possession.
Normally, I will sacrifice my character looking good for being able to do his job, even if I look like a generic version of my class or like everyone else and try to make it up in other ways and wear unusual clothing when I can. For Instance, I will wear a Christmas suit(hat,boots, and all) when I used to tank the first four bosses in Karazhan and make corny Xmas puns. Back to the point, I always disliked the fact that I would start out as what looks like I crawled out of a sewer and decided that day I wanted to be a hero and then jump into a clown suit. So many games seem to like the fact to make characters go through the dress-up nightmare, not just MMOs anymore. Soul Calibur IV, another instance, let's you make your own character from a style of one of the original fighters and then get to select armor which will give you stats. The thing is, EVERYTHING looks wierd/stupid and doesn't match with any other piece of armor until more armor is unlocked to make other stupid looking gear make the created character stronger but ugly as hell... but I degrass...
Only three MMOs I have ever seen tried to cure this subtle yet horrible problem, Guild Wars, Warhammer, and Second Life. All three do different things to please the people who care what their characters look like, Second Life the most obviously since it's not a normal MMO. Guild Wars makes sure the whole game, you will always, ALWAYS! have a set of gear that matchs and doesn't look horrible and many different sets for stats and looks. Warhammer gear looks good from the beginning and new gear seems to good well with old gear, so clowns be gone!!
Now Second Life, since it has no gear, it will take a different step and make the player customize the clothes and use prims to make other items such as wings,belts,masks and other that the base clothing won't cover. I tried experienting with the latter a little, and now I got what I would think are some nice hand made wings and claws, nothing special.
Personally I think that MMOs should mimic Second Life more in the fact that the character can be unique and have it's own personality versus looking like a clown or another character of the same class.

FREE BLOG

OK....This week is going good. I mean I got to go home and visit my old high school. I am relaxing as I write this blog now and I am even going to go and play a video game in a minute. In fact let me tell you guys (and girls) about it. It is called Wild Arms 3 and it is about these four drifters who all end up meeting abord a train by accident. 

  It is really a good game and I think that the characters are really well done too. In the beginning you see a cut scene and it introduces you to a girl sitting in a train compartment. When sunddnly the train is rocked and she hears a noise out side in the hall way. She gets up and checks it out, when she sticks her head out of her compartment she sees two men running by. They work for the train and as you head down the pathway that they just came from you run into another guy. This man is no one important but you two go and investagate what is going on in the back of the train. When you enter the compartment you see a big box in the center and the train operater goes to it and opens it. Five seconds later three males burst in from different directions with guns pointing at each other. These three men are all known as drifters and they are all after what is inside of the crate. These are also your traveling companions for the whole game. This game is a good one considering that their is no voice acting and it is all a text based game. I mean sure there are animations and sound but other then that it is a really good game.

I haven't been able to beat it yet but I am getting closer to it. Besides that I am having a really good time playing all of my old video games. I will be sure to tell you all about them in later installments.

   Godzilla 

Game Review: Force Unleashed.

Force Unleashed is a RPG based game for a large variety of game systems. In this game, the player takes the role of Darth Vaders Secret Apprentice. As the apprentice, you are under the control of Vader and must exterminate the survivors of order 66. During these missions, a very indepth plot unravels. During these missions, you learn about the creation of the Rebel Alliance and how evil and corrupt the Empire is. The stoy alone makes this game great, but not everting is so perfect. The game play, while way over the top and crazy, is hard to control and can make one angery. The boss fights are near impossible on the harder difficultys and can easily anger the player. The game is also very short. This was my major complaint about this game. Lucasarts should have added more levels to add more play time to the game. The visuals are down right perfect though the level design is reused on several levels. If I could rank this game, I would give it a 8 of 10. I also would recomend renting or borrowing this game from a friend just to take in the great story line, one that will leave you feeling like you truly are in the Star Wars universe.

Second Life Politics

The use of political advertising in Second Life is a good way to draw attention to the up and comeing election. I think that it is a great idea to be advertiseing in an online world. This allows for many people to recieve the message about who is running and a little bit about what they stand for. The use of online political advertiseing can draw younger voters to the election aswell as drar attention to the underage voters to current events. The only problem I forsee with Second Life is the ability for anyone to edit the content. This could allow for attack adds to take place in Second Life and could create false rumors about a cantidate. In conclusion, I beleive that this form of campaigning is ok aslong as its fair and open for anyone to view the content.

F.E.A.R.

So I was at my cabin this weekend and one of my friends, who has a cabin close to mine, brought some of her friends up. They also brought up an Xbox 360 and some games. One of thoes games was F.E.A.R. I can't really remember what it stands for but whatever. I had played the game beofre and it kinda freaked me out so this time I watched someone else play. Normally, I hate watching people ply games and I normally wanna take over, but this time was different. There were 5 of us watching while Dalton, one of the guys up there, played it. We were able to get through the whole game in one weekend and it was pretty sweet! Now I really wanna play the second one but alas...I have no Xbox. *sigh*

Politics in Second Life

Okay so I think there can be good things about advertising politics in Second Life. One thing is it can give many people who may not watch the news that often some insight on the political candidates and maybe interest them more in politics, itself. It could also give many people in second life the chance to meet thousands of other people who side with the same candidate as themselves, and give them a place to chat about the debates or anything else going on in the world. Also, having areas set up in secondlife for the candidates can give people the chance to show their support for the candidate they support.

Playing obsession

I agree with what Donut has said in an earlier post that there are people who play a game toooo much. Such as his points of people playing while they are in class or or when they should be doing homework or sometimes when they should be outside and conversing with friends. I do not know why a person would want to come to a class that they are paying a fair amount of money to be in, would want to waste their time playing a game and not learning what they should be to receive and good grade and actually know how to the work for future, and possible harder, classes. I for one am a person who would rather be playing my game of World of Warcraft, but I know that there are times when I need to get off and actually do something. If I had the choice of being able to play WoW, and just WoW, with no repercussions, not having to pay bills, not having to go to work or school or not even needing to make my own food, I would probably take that option but later find that it was a poor choice because, I do get bored of playing WoW form time to time. Not very often but it does happen. And usually on those days I just want to either watch TV, or read a book (yes I read books). But usually the reason I get bored when I am playing WoW is because of the fact that there is nothing for me to do at the time, or nothing that I want to do. Anyways I guess I wont ever know why some people do the things that they do and whether that is a good thing or a bad thing to happen only you can decide.