Dead Space, Metal Gear Solid 4, Ashley Todd, and Me...

Ok, first off, a Metal Gear Solid 4 update: I am increasing my rating from a 6 to a 6.5.

For those of you in the know, I am now off to deal with Rex. At any rate, even my wife was interested in the plot, although it wasn't like she could flip the channel, heh...

I am not sure how soon I will return to MGS4, however, as Deep Space just came, and my god is it great. The graphics, like MGS4 are stunning, it IS creepy, and I very much like how the storyline (albeit far, far "simpler" than MGS4) is unfolding through the gameplay and not through a million cut scenes.

Other than that, no coding or political updates, per se. One quick note on the Ashley Todd debacle: although we are extremely close to electing the first black President in our history -- an enormous leap since as late as the 50's, this is still obviously only window-dressing over our nation's subconscious. Miss Todd could have said anything, including that she simply can't remember what happened. Instead it was a large, viscous black man who attacked her.

Why is it never a Chinese man?

Metal Gear Solid 4 and Me...

Ok, I am not a hardcore gamer by any means. My wife got me a PS3 for Father's Day, as I got to see Grand Theft Auto on his and immediately spooged myself. GTA4 = 10 / 10. Period. Very fun. Etc.

To me, there is a common denominator between GTA4 and FarCry -- two (very?) different games: both follow a mantra of allow the gamer to go anywhere, do anything. Discovering those worlds and just playing around in them makes the product soooo much more enjoyable. A big reason why I'm giving MGS4 a 6 / 10...tops.

First and foremost, the TONS of cut scenes in MGS4 is driving me crazy. The game is so beautiful and very engrossing when you get to play (although not being able to jump, say over a very narrow hole in the floor, is annoying).

Second, I don't know what Tokyo Mushrooms the development team was eating when they made this, but the storyline was so very cool UNTIL Raiden comes in (if you've played it, you know what cut scene I'm talking about). Then it gets super-anime and quite frankly, super-gay. The game actually felt very mature, like it was a commentary on war (and it may still be), but is now cartoonish and rediculous.

I'll definitely re-post should my views on this game change, but for right now, I'm somewhat disappointed. A 6 out of 10.

I am looking forward to Dead Space, which should arrive any day now, as well as FarCry 2 (ooooh yeah!).

Your thoughts on MGS4?

Java, Dice, Programming Languages and Me...

So, I decided to write another Applet, this time one that gives the "popularity" of a programming language based on the number of instances found from a generic Dice.com search.

The source code is here.

Politics, The Vice Presidential Debate, and Me...

Ok, first and foremost: Biden is winning, and won.  Not hugely, but hands down.  However, this post will focus more on Palin, and a new respect I found for her tonight.  My hat's off to that woman. 

First, she made me feel like I was watching my neighbor suddenly thrown onstage to debate a seasoned politician.  Her nervousness, although well-checked, was still evident.  There was this "hockey-mom", as has become so popular a euphemism for her, up there playing with the big boys.  Ugh.  The courage that must have took...

Furthermore, I don't think my toughest cram session for any test in college or otherwise was close to the splatter she must have been going through the last few weeks.  It seemed very obvious to me that most of what came out of her mouth was studied and remembered, and that it was only "known" well enough to most times be put in the right context.  But that knowledge wasn't hers, yet; it hadn't sunk in as understanding.  If it had, it would have come out much more fluidly.  Regardless, my god the amount of information she must have had to assimilate.

An interesting topic came up on one of the networks Joey and I were watching prior to the debate -- that the biggest thing Palin is defending tonight is her career.  It seemed (I'd only been half listening at the time, as my eardrum was punctured today [another story]), it seemed the commentators / pundits then were implying that, should she grossly fail, her career will be kaput.

I am convinced McCain and Palin are not what we want the next four years, but I would be incredibly disgusted were her career to truly suffer after tonight, as she pulled a monumental feat for a small town woman, recently turned Governor.  Same as I would were Obama not given the credit for going from relative obscurity as a community organizer in Chicago to the possible Presidency.  My post from August 20 implies my same sentiment: that whatever memes out there have infected us simple citizens with such animosity based on doublespeak and bullshit that we overlook our own gut instincts.

One more plus I have to hand to Palin: she's absolutely a tasty bitch who deserves a good spanking for being such a bad kitty...

I really can't say, though, if that's a qualification or not for Vice President.