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Command and Conquer is Freeware

I’ve always been more of a Starcraft fan myself but i won’t pass up on a free game.  Especially when it’s actually a decent game.  I’ve played a fair number of RTS games and if I had to choose a second best behind Blizzard’s stuff it’s be command and conquer.

So get prepared of the release of Command and Conquer 4 by catching up on the previous games in the series for free, thanks to the producers themselves.

http://www.commandandconquer.com/classic

Transformers Toyfair 2010 & I Hate the Hunt

So we got a lot of news recently from Toyfair regarding upcoming Transformers for 2010.  The problem is, I’ve been so disinterested for months now that I can’t get too excited over a lot of it.  I’m not alone in my disinterest, Naladahc over at Plasticcrack has had a similar attitude, the guys over at TFWire ended their podcast a while ago, in general, I’ve been seeing this same attitude throughout the fandom.  Sure, maybe it’s just a “you feel it so you see it more” symptom but it’s there.

I see a few reasons in my case at least.  First off, I’m generally broke these days.  Not broke broke but I have better things to spend my money on these days.  Sure, if i wanted to I could squeeze 10 bucks a month out for a new deluxe Transformer but why?  There’s little room on my display shelving and I’ve got a lot of the characters I want already. 

Which leads into my second reason.  This is the one that more or less killed my Star Wars collecting habit.  Thanks to Classics/Universe/whatever, I’ve more or less got the “definitive versions” of all of my favorite characters.  This happened in Star Wars too many years ago.  I got to the point where I simply didn’t need any more Luke Skywalkers or Han Solos etc.

Take for example the upcoming War for Cybertron figures.  Yeah, they are kind of cool but in general I dislike “Cybertron Mode”  toys and I don’t NEED anymore bumblebees or Optimus Primes.

On the other hand, I’ll definitely buy Classics Thrust on site since it’ll complete my set of 6 seekers and he’s my favorite design of the bunch anyway.

But there’s a lot that I’m not interested in, especially when it comes to the movie.  For example, they seem to be really pushing these Power Core Combiners.  The only one that seems at all exciting is Huffer.  The gestalts seem kind of lame and don’t look to have individual robot modes.  Most of the new scouts are out if anything because I’m irritated by anything that’s out of scale.

Still, I want to pick up the new Voyager Prime figure.  I love my Leader RotF Prime but he’s a bit too large and the new smaller Prime looks pretty sweet.  Masterpiece Grimlock seems pretty swank as well so long as I can find him and he’s not TOO pricey.

Finding these things is another issue however.

I just flat out no longer enjoy “the hunt”.  On the other hand, I absolutely refuse to support anyone reselling things at a mark up.  It probably doesn’t help that I’m not stupid enough to “forget” that there is a shipping cost involved with any online purchase which drives the price up 8-10 dollars.  Hey look, I can get this hard to find toy for 20 bucks!  Oh and there’s 8 dollars shipping, so I’m paying almost 30 bucks for a 10 dollar toy.  These people are 90% of the reason I hate “hunting” in the first place since they are buying all of this crap up to resell.  I won’t support it.

In general, the whole hobby is just not something that I really enjoy anymore.  I still stick to it and pick up a toy here and there but in general, I just don’t care.

Mo-Lar

So, I don’t follow He-Man toys much, as in, at all, but I found this rather hilarious bit from Toyfair 2010.

This is apparently some sort of two pack probably excusive to… somewhere.  It’s not based on He-Man exactly however.  This is apparently some character named Mo-Lar from a Robot Chicken sketch making fun of He-Man.  Notice, the included Skeltor is in fact, missing a tooth, you know, because Mo-Lar is a dentist.

Way to roll with the punches Mattel.  I mean they obviously know that He-Man is kind of campy and dorky but it apparently has enough of a following that it’s worthwhile to produce a small amount of figures for the line still.  What better way to cater to fans than to give them a fun little reference only they would get or care about. 

This TF2 Video is FULL OF WIN!

Thanks to The BBPS for pointing it out…

Stages of Completion

Over the years, I have played, many video games.  Like… a lot.  I’ve been playing video games in some form for as long as i can remember.  The oldest games I recall were Ghostbusters and Park patrol, among others, on a Commodore 64.  I know I played these in the third home I lived in, but I have vague memories of it previous to that, so I was probably around 4 or 5 when I started “gaming”.

Over this time, I’ve developed a system for “game completion”.  This system isn’t particularly complicated, but it’s one I find useful all around in keeping track of what I’ve done in my gaming activities.

Game Completed

This is the most basic form of game completion.  The player as “won” the game.  They have defeated some sort of end boss and the credits have rolled.  In fact, the credits is a good indicator that this has occurred.  There are a few exceptions here, for example, I’m pretty sure the credits roll on Mario Kart when you complete an individual circuit.  Mario Kart would be more accurately be described in this class as “beating all of the Circuits for a particular CC cup.

There are some games that simply cannot be “Completed”.  Most puzzle games fall into this realm.  For example, Tetris, runs endlessly.  Technically with Tetris you could say you’ve beaten it by completing the B Type game where you have to complete a set number of lines, but the normal Tetris has no end,.  The game simply runs forever, faster and faster.

Game Completed 100%

This will generally be the next step after Completing a game.  In many older games, and simpler games, this can often occur when the first condition is met (Game Completed).  For example, finishing the first Contra Game will also be “100% Completion”.  There’s no hidden levels or surprises.  Not all older games have this aspect however, the original Super Mario Brothers can be completed by using Warp Zones.  Completing the game in this manner would not be “Completed 100%” since many levels were not played.

Lots of games these days have this feature.  The ability to save anywhere and the desire to extend game playability has caused many developers to add hidden zones, special items, added difficulty levels, are all optional “extras” that fall into the real of things needing to be done to complete a game “100%”.  Even if there is no built in indicator, the idea behind “Completed 100%” is that you’ve done “everything you can do in the game”. 

Game Mastered

This is the ultimate level of completion.  Generally speaking, Completed and Completed 100% are both required in order to claim this title.  This title basically means you’re an expert on every aspect of a particular game.  You can complete it without looking things up or in some level of record time with minimal effort.  if someone asks for help you can tell them the most efficient methods of going about their task.

Out of all the games I’ve played, I would only say I’ve ‘Mastered” maybe a half dozen of them.  For example, I can complete Contra 1, without the Contra Code, with minimal deaths and half the time without even paying attention to what’s coming because I have most of it memorized.

I can complete Zelda 3: A Link to the Past, with and end “lives” count of zero.  Keep in mind, saving the game counts as 1 life just as much as dying does.  This is picking everything up, all the items, hearts, etc.  This task takes roughly 6 hours of continuous play.

For the last example of “Mastered” I present Grand Theft Auto 3, which I’ve completed 100% without cheats, maps, deaths, arrests, mission failure, or excessive saving.

The point is, that in order to truly “Master” a game, you need to be exceptionally good at it".  Just getting 100% completion once or twice isn’t enough.  This stage usually will require some level of personal goal involved.

BONUS STAGES!

Game Stopped Out of Boredom

Sometimes a game is just boring.  I try to give all of my games a good shot because hell, I’ve spent good money on these things I need to give them a try.  I like to keep up the idea that I’ve completed at least 80% of the games I own.  Good news is, I’m generally picky so most of the games I own are ones I know I’ll like.  Sometimes they are just no fun.  The game play is monotonous or the story is boring, but the desire to keep going is just non existent.  Two examples, I stopped and never finished Lunar 2 Eternal Blue and Final Fantasy 12 due to boredom. 

Just a note on Boredom though, often a break will help cure the boredom and i find revisiting some of these games after letting them sit for a while will often bring them back in a new light.

Game Stopped Out of Frustration

This is the worst level of “End Game” for a game’s play life.  At least with Boredom you’re likely to come back and try again.  When a game just become needlessly difficult and frustrating that you quit in anger, chances are, you’re never going to look back.

Need for Speed underground is the best example I can give of this.  Extensive research shows that many people quit  playing this game due to the impossible difficulty of the race that ended my interest in this game (and series).  The race was something like 111, or 117 or so, but this particular race is exceptionally difficult.

There’s also the example I occasionally give with Digimon World, which is mostly just an atrocious game.  I ended up dropping this game after many tries to produce a Digimon that  was not a pile of Shit (literally) that would EAT HIS OWN SHIT (literally).  It was both frustrating and gross and I never came back to that mess.

Captain Picard on the Internet

Trek jokes aside, I really do like Patrick Stewart in general. Picard is my favroite Star Trek Captain though. TNG rules them all!