The End of the World as We Know it

I bought Fallout 3 when it came out the other day. Duh. It’s fairly similar to Oblivion, which I was hoping for (I liked Oblivion. I have never played Fallout. So sue me.) and it’s… really good. I was planning on posting about my various role-playing adventures in the game, but no reliable method of screenshot capturing stopped this immediately. (I got it for a console, not PC. Again; so sue me.)

So, a quick review:

Firstly, the character creator is fairly less in-depth then I’d hoped. Most of the guys look the same unless you move the sliders to ridiculous extremes, and any given face looks just about the same no matter what race you give it: unless you design a face to be Asian, you can’t just move the slider to “Asian” and make it look as such. Also, no matter what, your character will always sport the same scowl; you can’t change anything about the mouth except for the size and color. Also, why is the number of options related to facial hair so much less than that of regular hair?

The tutorial, however, was alot better: none of Oblivion’s “I have seen your face in the stars” nonsense; it actually makes you feel for Vault 101’s characters. When you leave the vault, practically nothing compels you to go anywhere, so you can just follow your instincts. A few other changes from Oblivion exist, some good, some not. First, the positive (I apologize for the bullets, but this time you can bypass the lawsuits and bite me):

• Items are repaired by using other items of a like nature, not repair hammers; so if you’ve got, say, two half-damaged handguns, you can use parts from one to fully repair the other.
• Your Pip-boy 3000, which replaces Oblivion’s journal, is actually a computer, which helps to explain some of it’s more esoteric features.
• Items and ammo are few and far between, and you’ll likely need all of them on long treks, assuming you don’t just fast-travel everywhere.
• The date is actually displayed in standard earth units, which helps you make vague comments (September already? I hear it’s feral ghoul season)

Of course, some of the changes suck as well. Namely:

• Dialogue: It’s fairly obvious wihich ones will earn you positive and which will earn yyou negative karma (For example, “Fuck you”, which is a disturbingly reccuring option, tends to not make you very popular)
• Character creation: You get way fewer features this time around, as I’ve mentioned.
• The world: why is it that, to get anywhere in the south end of the map, you have to travel through miles of subway tunnels?
• Currency: Why am I so poor?

All in all, I like the game, even though it’s sucking up all of my free time and I’m far more popular in the game world than I am in reality. Plus, you can shoot a guy so hard, his head falls off. His head.

Get Active

Not physically, I mean. That hurts too much, what with the pulling of tendons and the moving and the muscles contracting and the joints turning and the tendons stretching and all sorts of other nouns verbing. I meant this website. Which has been inactive since around September. In case anyone has been paying attention.

This is not because my life hasn’t been busy. In fact, my life has been surprisingly interesting lately. Too interesting. Now that it’s resuming regularly (except for PSAT’s tomorrow, which are these silly tests that tell us how well we would do on a test if we took it with a year’s worth less information than we will be) I can once again post with aplomb. (Look in a dictionary).

So, what has been happeneing? Well, I got into the LittleBigPlanet Beta, for one thing. It was cool, but I did notice a little thing. See, the beta went active on the 23rd. Of September. At around this point, I got tons of emails telling me to go to Sony’s official homepage. I didn’t. October came around. The beta continued. Sony, apparently, had wanted, wanted, to give me a beta code, but I, fearing salespeople, had shied away from their site. Great. So then, finally, on the eighth, Sony finally, begrudgingly, sent me a code.

Yay! Except… the beta ran out less than a week later. So, I missed out on fifteen whole days of awesome. But I can only guess that they did this because I didn’t go to their site. I will be going to the websites much more often now. That Resistance 2 Beta’s just around the corner.

As for the beta’s actual content, it was pretty cool. They gave us a handful of editing tools, way too many stickers, and the first area from the game (including the final iteration of the first level we saw, an awesome throwback). A few qualms, however- most notable with lag and the fact that gamers, appaerently, are not very creative. I noticed LittleBigColossus standing out from the pack, as did… wait… there’s gotta be another one…

So there’s that. Other exciting things that heppened whilst I was gone? Well, I became quite excited about the upcoming Fallout 3. After all, it features a unique experience concerning blah blah blah you can punch a guy so hard, his head falls off. That deserves a look-see. Plus, it’s made by that same guys as Oblivion, which I liked. A lot. Even though I got… wait for it… THE CONSOLE VERSION. I KNOW. Apparently, there’s some sort of unwritten rule that allows PC gamers to subjugate and cutterly control the lesser, console-playing masses. Judging from forums, this seems to be the general attitude. So, please accept my apologies. Also, if it makes anything better, I do occationally play Peggle.

Also, my body was recently brutally assaulted by some kind of martian death virus clearly not of this world. Perhaps this explains the headaches, stomachaches, armaches, and aches in various other body parts as well. I am thankful this is over with, as sickness effectively halves all my stats. Should I continue the metaphor, or end the article? I thought so.

Brain Humor

So, I decided, for no apparent reason besides boredom, to start a blog. But look: I’m using correct grammar, spelling and punctuation! Whoa!

Anywho, I really can’t think of anything else to write here… oh, yeah! I gotta tell you about myself! This is America, you need to know my business! (Zing!)

Wow! First day and I’ve already alienated half the population. Nice.  So, as I was saying, time for some introductions. My name is Timothy Ventarola, I live in the suburbs, and I’m a sophomore in High School.

Yes, I know. Shut up.

I’m a total geek, by the way. I make AMV’s, I’ve heard of obscure Japanese games, and I do constructive things with my free time.

So, that’s me. I’ll pretty much sit around here on my computer and complain about my life on a semi-daily (read: you will never get an update) basis, despite the fact that I’m far better off than millions of people in third-world nations across the globe.

Every website has Terms of  Service, and i see no reason to break that proud tradition:

1. All material on this website is the sole property of its creator, me, and you agree to at least site me if you copy it. I’m talking to all four of you readers.
2. Any emails or comments sent to me become available for my use in posts. Especially in a scathing manner.
3. This website is not to be held responsible for anyone who may be offended by its contents. That’ll be most of you.
4. Additionally, this website is not to be held responsible for any physical injuries you may incur while reading it… ehh, somehow.
5. Any names I mention, except for those of celebrities, politicians, etc. have most likely been changed. This is because I respect their privacy and also because I do not want to be sued.
6. Please refrain from using profanity in the comments section. I have to share a computer with my sister, and any comments posted will send me an email, which she may end up seeing.
7. Any insects such as spiders, flies, etc, that you kill while reading this website are to be on your conscience and not mine.
8. Yes, I know that spiders are a member of the arachnid family. So are scorpions, ticks, and poodles.
9. Tell all your friends about this website. The view count pretty much directly equates to my self-esteem, so anything would be greatly appreciated.
10. Wow, #9 sounds pathetic! See you tomorrow! Probably!