Warning: Before you read this article keep in mind that it’s littered with spoilers for Mass Effect 3. Read at your own risk. Mass Effect 3 leaves me feeling a bit perplexed. While ME2 had me a bit pissed at the end over the Reaper larva and how easy it was to destroy with a hand cannon, this 3rd installment in the series has me scratching my head and pondering what the hell just happened.
City of Heroes was the first MMO I ever really played. WOW bored me, and I wanted something different and perhaps just a bit more oriented toward my inner-nerd. The kind of nerd that likes righting wrongs and doing skullduggery, but finds elves and dwarves to be effeminate pussies. Especially the kind of elves and dwarves in most online games. That’s why I gravitated toward the superhero genre MMO. I’m sure that I’ve already alienated the WOW fanboys with the first few sentences, and that’s completely fine with me. I’ve played with your asses in these types of games, and your constant whining for clerics and healers in chat annoyed me enough to make a villain character that kills your kind in PVP. But enough about that.
The hordes of zombies are gathering as the US Government announces that it’s no longer capable of paying its debts. The dollar is heading straight down in value. Panicked, soon to be zombies rush to their local banks to get money while it’s still worth something. Banks close their doors as they run out of cash to cover withdrawals. Food distribution comes grinding to a halt as stores run out of the 2-day supply they have on hand. Gasoline goes to 6 dollars a gallon as supplies disappear. People flee the city in huge herds, mindlessly seeking any kind of safety. Within twenty four hours, the police are overwhelmed as the battles begin in the streets.
Today, we’re going to look at the most basic item all people should have in dealing with basic disaster prepping. What is it you ask? It’s your Bug Out Bag, or as we in community refer to it, your BOB. Now, everyone has an opinion about what should be in your BOB, and gamers have special needs that will have to be addressed. However, I will say right off that you are not allowed to stick your PS3, Xbox 360, or Wii into it.
In light of all the craziness happening around the world in the last couple of months, it has become necessary to look at what steps any good gamer needs to take to prepare for a natural or economic disaster. Unfortunately, after talking to some of you all recently, I’ve become aware of a few areas that need to be addressed before we can get down to serious prepping.
A few of you might know or even care that I tend to view the Mass Effect series as Bioware’s only saving grace in the last couple of years. When I play duds like Dragon Age 2, I have to hope that somewhere, somehow, they have a bright team writing great stories that flow well into game play. So far, that team has been on Mass Effect. While some might argue that the games are a bit rigid to play, they still have great story. I tend to forgive a fair amount if the game takes me out of reality a bit and gets me into the characters.
1998 was an interesting year. I was single again. I bought a house, and the PlayStation was bringing out a few games that I really enjoyed playing. One in particular was my absolute favorite console game of all time. Why did I love Parasite Eve so much? I really couldn’t say for sure, but I suspect it appealed to my inner nerd. I’ve never played a game like I played that one. I destroyed every location, killed every creature, and even played through again with the bonus levels; after you win the game the first time. My oldest son begged me for the chance to play the game, but I told him that it was too mature for a 10 year old and kept playing. Every now and again, I would feel the gaze of a couple of pre-adolescents burning into the back of my neck, but I remained undaunted. At least until the PlayStation broke. Then it was back to my PC, while the children whined about getting a
Last year, during the height of the BP oil spill, I wrote a blog about all of the problems that I saw coming down the road; based on a poem by William Butler Yeats. I was accused of being rather “doomish” in the blog, and I admit that I might have been a bit over the top. In light of recent events in Japan and elsewhere however, I think I may have been just a bit early.
Every now and again, a game will come out that claims to be the spiritual successor to one that came before it. Usually, they fall short of the claim. I am here to report that once again, contrary to claims made elsewhere, Dragon Age 2 is no Baldur’s Gate 2. It isn’t even in the same league. Hit the break to view our verdict.
Two days ago, reports began to surge out of Egypt about protesters surrounding the buildings of the Egyptian State Security apparatus. This came as a bit of a shock to me as the media has portrayed the events there as calming down. It would appear that those reports in the media have been less than truthful.
I bought 3 copies of Mass Effect 2 when it came out for the Xbox 360, one for me, and one for each of my boys. If I only bought one for myself, I’d have been killed in my sleep. Who says video games don’t cause violence? Over the months, the copies have dwindled down and suddenly there were no copies for my 360 anymore. Then to my great joy, Mass Effect 2 came out for the PS3 and I had a chance to run through the game on a different system.
Big Brother Comes To Your Radio, TV, Cell Phone, and Game Console I admit that Alex Jones annoys me. He’s bombastic, loud, crude, and most of the time he acts like a government disinformation source. He tends to look at the worst possible scenario for what the government does, and then go totally into left field explaining why things are bad. That being said, he will on occasion, get my attention with one of his stories. Yesterday, he did one that began to set off a few alarm bells.