mDuo13

Note: This post retreads some of the same thoughts as an earlier one in a slightly different light.

I've passingly mentioned that I'm currently playing StarCraft II. But I don't mean that in the same way I meant it when, for example, I said I was playing Metroid: Other M recently. No, I'm playing StarCraft II in a sense that perhaps more closely resembles if an athlete were playing football this fall, or a more intellectually-inclined individual might say he were playing chess. In other words, I'm not approaching it as a work to be completed, I'm approaching it as an activity to compete in and get better at. The distinction may seem academic, but there's a pretty different attitude involved and, to be honest, it's taken me by surprise that I'm interested in this sort of thing.

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At work, a few developers recommended Flash Switcher, a Firefox extension for testing with different Flash versions easily. And it occurred to me: this extension is hosted on "sephiroth.it". You know what that means to me? It means that the generation of people who are out there doing web development and making games right now is the generation for whom Final Fantasy VII was a defining gaming experience.

God help us.

I recently acquired and played Metroid: Other M. (Aside: you have no idea how weird it feels to type that in <em> tags.) When I first heard that Team Ninja was going to be making the next Metroid game, and I saw the trailers, I was worried. I've blogged before about the gradual corruption of the Metroid formula and all signs indicated that this game would accelerate that loathsome trend. Yet, being as I did have an interest in how the series' plot develops, I wondered if Other M might be an enjoyable game in its own right. Having finished it, my relationship with the game is a bit hard to describe in short, if you can forgive my longwindedness, please read on.

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Since I'm currently updating this website with long-overdue changes, I might also note that I've added to my link list a friend from college, whose recently-started blog is both an entertaining read and highly indicative of his personality. It's called The Zeppelin Diaries and his tagline is, "I like my coffee black, my dames classy, and my dialogues fictitious. Updating Daily with posts about D&D and related hobbies!" If that doesn't pique your interest, maybe you should re-evaluate yourself. Taking a little inspiration from his style, I felt like commenting on RPGs. I'm currently running a game of Orpheus, a little-known spinoff RPG by White Wolf from all the way back in 2003, which puts players into the shoes of grim-present ghostbusters and part-time (or full-time!) ghosts themselves.

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Gosh, it sure is hard to blog after so much time. It's not like miniscule updates on my life are particularly interesting. I do have some thoughts I've been kicking around about the nature of social games (and why they're generally terrible) but I'm hesitant to post them out of respect for my current employer. Maybe in a little while after I've polished them up. I also have a few long posts about mahjong partially prepared but lacking in polish. (Speaking of things lacking in polish, I should probably push a review of Angel Beats! sometime, too.) But for now, I'm going to talk about music games.

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So today on my way home from work I stopped at SVGL, where I was planning on meeting Spiritsnare for some DJ Max Technika. As it turns out, he was at dinner so I had the machine to myself. I figured I'd play a game or two and wait for him to come back; Matt's an abnormally fast eater, after all. Well, something like 8 games later, neither he nor anyone else wanting to use the Technika machine was on the premises, and it had gotten quite dark. I was riding home, so I left (and made great time, taking a trip that normally costs me an hour in 45 minutes flat), but not before beating Stop, Blythe, and a few other things. I planned on throwing some money in the Pop'n machine, too, but that didn't happen. As it was, I'm nearly too tired to blog about today's kanji.

• 車 - kuruma, sha - "car" as in 車 (car), 自転車 (bicycle), 救急車 (ambulence).
• 学 - gaku, mana - "science" as in がっこう (school), 科学者 (scientist), 学ぶ (learn), 学生 (student), or just as a suffix meaning the study of (e.g. 文学, literature).
• 教 - kyou, oshi as in 教会 (church), 教える (teach), 仏教 (Buddhism). This one looks kinda hard. I'm gonna have to study it more when I'm more awake.

But as I can barely keep my eyes open as it stands, it's goodnight for now.