This Just In: Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation

Just got this from GameFly today. My current headache is keeping me from playing it RIGHT NOW even though I am very excited. I also sent back Ocarina of Time. I just couldn't stick with it. I've moved DJMax, Ratchet and Clank: Full Frontal Assault and Forza: Horizon to the top of my list.

4iF Notes

Little did I know that I would post NOTHING while I tried to complete my Four in February. The challenged proved more difficult to complete than I first imagined. Last night, at 11pm, I finished my fourth game in February. I spent around 20 hours a week gaming, so all told I spent roughly 80 hours gaming this month. The playtime for the four games I beat totaled somewhere near 60 hours. The 20 remaining hours were spent on games I didn't finish. Here's my notes on my Four in February experience:

I was off to a blazing start after beating Portal in just a couple hours. I enjoyed it, but it seemed a lot easier and shorter than Portal 2. Though, had I known what Wheatley was when I played Portal 2, I would have trusted him a lot less. Even though I played it fast, I still got chills from Portal's creepy, abandoned vibe. Actually, I get that vibe from any game that sends my character to prison or leaves them alone for a stretch of time... perhaps it's just my own fears of isolation...  

Anyways, with only three games left on February 2nd, I thought I had this challenge in the bag. The next two were Assassin's Creed: Revelations and Fire Emblem Awakening. Fire Emblem was a bit of a struggle to find, due to some unexplained shipping problems. AC:R is one that had been sitting on my shelf since launch, still in the plastic.
  

Assassin's Creed wasn't bad, especially for a game that juggled three main narratives (Desmond was exploring as Ezio who was tracing the steps of Altair). I think this one took around 15 hours to beat. I didn't do any side missions, only crafted bombs when forced, and took no time to explore the cities. It sucked the joy out of the experience a bit, so I'm eager to go back and fill in some of the gaps. Fire Emblem took considerably longer, even though I played on the easiest mode (Normal Casual). I still pushed through the story a little faster than usual. I think without the Four in February challenge I'd still be farting around, playing DLC and fighting in skirmishes.

I had the first three game completed in the first two weeks of February, but I wasn't celebrating yet. My fourth game represented a history of abandonment. You see, my next game was Ocarina of Time. I have no trouble starting this or any Zelda game, but usually at about 10 hours in I realize that I've got something better to do. I was determined to change this. 

I failed. I was sinking a lot of time into the game and making little progress. More importantly, it wasn't fun. I found myself feeling impatient and frustrated. Some games are not meant to be tackled in a time-based challenge, especially not as a first playthough. You need to have time to wander, time to enjoy, time to get lost in that world.This is precisely the reason I didn't choose Skyrim as a February game.

So, it was time for an alternate. I looked over the games I already owned (quite a few) and considered the ones I haven't already beaten (not so many) and narrowed that down to ones I thought I could beat in under a week (very few). I tried Banjo-Kazooie Nuts and Bolts briefly, but the multitude of individual challenges lead me to try something else. I settled on Assassin's Creed 3 (which was still in wrap from launch). I had just played Revelations, so the story was fresh in my mind. Also, I was confident that I could beat it quick. By this point, I only had four days left. 

 The first three chapters were horrible. The next couple were long. I was getting very concerned that I'd be playing until midnight tonight trying to get finished. The second half of the game, however, was quick. It wasn't a great game. In terms of the Assassin's Creed series, it wasn't even a good game. Nevertheless, I beat it. Just like the AC game before it, there was a completely WTF ending, then a half hour of unskippable credits.

I enjoyed the 4if Challenge. I don't know when I would have gotten around to beating the last two AC games without it. I may have never played Portal. I would have played Fire Emblem regardless. I intend to write a meta-review about all four in the coming days.

The Week Ahead

Over the last month or so, I've been roaming the halls of Kotaku. My reason to return to the site was twofold: absorbing every little bit of Awakening conversation and getting back into a writing habit. I've recently joined Polygon, which seems a bit more active in forums and vigilantly moderated. I'm sure I'll keep up my activities at both sites next week.

Play Station All Stars for Vita just arrived from GameFly today. I convinced Aaron to start playing Fire Emblem, so this will allow me to actually let go of my 3DS a bit. Maybe.

I decided it was high time to start programming again, so I went the *** to the library. I was making strides in this area, but stopped when it came time to sell my house. I intend to start with the PHP book first. I think my Ruby understanding is still intact, but I hope the two books here will help me make those skills a bit more applicable. Finally, the software dev book is to help my understanding of the field, and decide if it's something I'd like to look into more seriously.

I happened to see this article about cleaning up your house in a weekend. I currently have a bit of a clutter situation. My last house had a lot more storage than this house, which lead me to keep more crap than I needed. I've gotten rid of a fair bit, but still the clutter lurks. Most everything in the aforementioned article was obvious, but sometimes obvious things listed objectively lends perspective.

Lastly, I've got a family cruise coming up this summer and still haven't gotten a passport. They are pricey! 

Four in February

Mike Suzek of Joystiq started an informal challenge recently: commit to finishing four games in February. When Owen Good of Kotaku asked if they should be games you have never played or games you just never finished, Suzek basically said do what feels right. The subtext of this challenge was to end the shame of never completing certain games. My Four in February are listed below. One of them isn't out yet, two are moderately shameful and one is kinda ridiculous.

First in February:

Fire Emblem: Awakening comes out on the fourth. I've talked enough about this already, so moving on.

Second in February:

I bought the Collectors Edition of AC3 (so much swag!) but haven't played it because I haven't even started Revelations. I know that doesn't matter, but I've had Revelations in wrap since it released. Why? That's a longer story for a different post.

Third in February:

I have almost bought The Orange Box more times than I can count. I've carried it hopefully through stores only to find something newer and more exciting. I played Portal 2 and everything. I think I heard so much about the first one, I just didn't bother.

Fourth in February:

Yeah. I don't know what to say. This one makes me truly ashamed. I have never finished any Zelda console game. Some of these I have started and not finished, but I think I'll pick one I've never tried.

You can publicly discuss your four by tweeting with the hashtag '#4if' or on the Four in February Facebook page. If you're undecided, seeing what others picked and why is a great way to brainstorm. There's been talk of making this a charitable effort: you could sell the games after you play them, and give the money to charity. It would be nice if a company like Microsoft gave a few cents for every game beaten next month (based on a completion achievement). But, chances are the charity aspect of this will come from individuals.

@1tmarathon

I have a twitter account that is for my normal, everyday life (@100tacks) but I started a new one for when I want to incessantly tweet, marathon style. This is to keep from annoying the few twitter followers I have, all of whom know me in real life [edit: there are two strangers following me now... on twitter, that is]

So far I tweeted a bunch on Wednesday while watching a Netflix Mythbusters Marathon in celebration of their ten year anniversary. Next week I think I'll be tweeting about 30 Rock as I  re-watch a bunch of old episodes (only one new episode left!). Sometimes I tweet quotes, sometimes commentary, and sometimes tangential learning links to related things.

I'll usually be watching TV or Netflix while tweeting from @1tmarathon, but I'll also use it while gaming.

GameFly Vs. Blockbuster

There's no real comparison here, but I tried them both anyway. I had a pass from my local Blockbuster store that let me rent my one game for as long as I'd like for $15/month. I loved being able to instantly switch games, even though their selection was often lacking. Unsurprisingly, that Blockbuster recently closed. I thought I would try to remain loyal by signing up for their online service. I tried GameFly at the same time, since they both had their first month free.

Despite signing up on the same day, Blockbuster's game took four days longer to arrive. Perhaps it just takes longer to establish the account, or I'm further from their warehouse. The GameFly game arrived in a cardboard sleeve and a paper sleeve, presumably to keep the disc from cracking. The Blockbuster game arrived in just a paper sleeve, and what do you know, it was cracked. And not just a little cracked.

Fire Emblem: Awakening Demo

This is life. This is death. This is Fire Emblem.

Fire Emblem looks and plays greater than ever in the new demo on the 3DS e-shop. All game elements are neatly incorporated and grounded into the game play experience. You will be able to customize your character in the full version, but in the demo you can only change their name. You also have to be male in the demo. You can set his birthday, asset and flaw. You pick from the qualities of strength, speed, skill, luck, resistance, magic, defense, and health points for your asset and flaw. Of course, once you pick one as an asset, it cannot be selected as a flaw and vice versa. As the game begins you are suffering from (surprise!) amnesia that allows you to be rather clueless as you engage in your first battle. Your party finds you, a stranger, lying unconscious in a field. Somehow you know their leader's name, but not your own.

Fire Emblem

As a 3DS Ambassador (someone who paid $250 when it came out) I have a lot of old games that I downloaded for free. Though I appreciate having them, I mostly ignore them. A few months ago my ll year old cousin began incessantly beginning conversations about Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones. I understood little of what he said, as this was among the first turn-based RPGs he had ever played. Quite frankly, he didn't know what he was talking about either. Last month I started playing Fire Emblem just so we could both know what he was talking about.

Blanket update

Just posting to add this picture of the layout. Decided on a series of three one-sided blankets. More manageable to sew and will be easier to hang on a wall in case I love 'em too much to use them.

Bittersweet Game Room

I have almost completed my favorite room in the house: the game room. We're still calling it the loft out of habit, as that is where the games were in the last house. Because it was open to downstairs and the front door, it never seemed appropriate to hang a bunch of posters all over. Now the game room is in the smallest bedroom upstairs, it is an explosion of everything video games. 

Seeing all that I have collected (hoarded?) in one place is a bit overwhelming. It's almost embarrassing. Or, it would be if I wasn't so proud.

The final addition will be the video game t-shirt blanket, which I began along time ago. With the blanket complete, I will be able to hibernate in gaming bliss. I have dozens of games I have put off playing, choosing to work our house instead. While I wait for coats to dry on the final painting projects, I'll be working on the blanket once again and, eventually, getting around to those unplayed, still-wrapped games.

The bittersweet part about this is we fully intend to move in less than a year. In a few months time it will all be boxed up and but a memory. I will obviously re-create it in the next house, but I like this iteration so much I that I am sad it will be so short.

One Device To Rule Them All

I am currently handwriting this entire post on my new Samsung Galaxy Note II. I've only had it a couple days, but I think it will be a one device solution. My last two phones were the Motorola Cliq One and Cliq Two. I liked the Motorola droid interface and the full keyboard. Had they released a third one, I probably would have bought it. They didn't, and for the last few months I've been looking for a suitable replacement.

I wandered into a T-mobile store while waiting on an oil change and saw the Note II. Because I was familiar with the first Note, I was instantly excited. That is, until I saw the price. For the plan we were on it was $420, and that included a contract extension. I decided I would save money and wait for the price to come down. 

Over the next couple weeks I learned that T-Mobile was the first to have the phone, and it was selling on other carriers for $300. I thought I'd check T- mobile again just in case they lowered the price now that other carriers had the phone. Not only was the phone cheaper, it was only $99 on their value plan. A delightful employee helped me crunch the numbers across all plans, and the value one over two years was $500 cheaper than anything else.

This phone is not for everyone. It is large, and it has an excess of features. It is akin to carrying the kitchen sink. That said, I am enamored with every part of this phone. Small for a tablet but big for a phone, this device is the perfect size to replace them both. The 8mp camera and Google maps app can replace two more devices. I see this Note II as a economical and convenient way to satisfy my technological needs. 

Videos look amazing, songs sound great, and it is FAST. The biggest adjustment is the size, but there are one-handed modes if your fingers don't reach and fantastic cases available to help protect it from falls and pockets. Being accustomed to carrying a 3DS and a PSVita, the size doesn't bother me. Unlike my last phone, e-reader apps are practical and comfortable to use. 

I've also inadvertently learned that children love it. My niece, nephew, and I comfortably played Songpop together, and my young cousin commandeered the phone when he saw the Bad Piggies app, declaring that it looked way better on the Note II than it did on his friend's small phone. I'm sure they would have enjoyed writing on the screen too, had I let them.

The stylus is no afterthought, with a host of features and apps to support it. My favorite is the hover feature, which will drop down menus and scroll pages without actually touching the screen. The phone can notify you when you are walking away without the stylus. A small button on the side of the stylus adds even more functionality. You can switch to handwriting input almost anytime in every app I've tried. I scribble something fierce, but the phone is still able to decipher my writing.

The Note II is a little heavier than I would like, but the battery weighing it down has allowed me to download apps, write posts and generally mess around all day. I have no battery saving modes enabled, so I've done everything on a bright screen at top speed.

I have noticed that this phone comes with a required disclaimer, which the phone owner must provide whenever revealing this monstrosity to the uninitiated: "Yes, this is my phone. Yes, my phone is gigantic." I suggest adding, "It has a built in stylus, it's super fast, and I promise you, it is better than your phone."

A Bit Distracted

Since the last post:

I stopped programming

we sold our house,

moved all our stuff into storage,

moved in to my old bedroom at the parents house (yes, both of us),

bought all sorts of fun things,

played a lot of Kinect and Mod Nation Racers on PSVita,

helped my mom move her classroom

got hooked on Doctor Who,

went to the gym a lot,

started using Pinterest,

crocheted a blanket for a friend,

and forgot about this blog.

My husband started a blog for his work and I suddenly remembered I have some of those! And as soon as I have something worth posting about, I'll do just that. 

Customize It: Part 2

So far, I've only made one customization that involves CSS, which I wrote about in the previous post. Now it's time to show some of the many tweaks you can make with just a little added CSS.

Shadows:
The shadows, or shading, around different elements of your blog can add depth and grab attention. Shadows can make elements of your page pop out or sink in. This is the code you'll need, shown here with no values:

-moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);
-webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);
-goog-ms-box-shadow: 0 0 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);
box-shadow: 0 0 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); 

Customize It: Part 1

I've been knee deep in a sea of HTML and CSS lately, trying to learn the ins and outs. After making practice pages on my computer, I thought that I would try to create my own blogger theme from scratch. After looking into it, it seems completely unnecessary. You can edit anything on the page by adding CSS in the Template Designer. In this post I'll give the steps, in the next post I'll show all the CSS changes I made on my test blog.

1. Pick the design that is the closest to what you want.
By default, you start out with the first option in the "simple" category. If you like this one, then great! There are a good number of options to pick from, but I admit they look mostly the same. Choose the design that is the closest to what you want. Try not to focus too much on the colors or images, since you can change most of those in the customization options offered in the template designer. I picked the picture window template.

2. Customize using options in Blogger
Choose the Background, Widths, and Layout for your blog. Finally, use the options available under the advanced tab to change colors and fonts. Even though I made a lot of changes, there were still some things I didn't like. For example, I wanted the header to have a picture instead of a solid color background. It's possible to change most anything with CSS, as long as you know the name of what you want to change.

3. Get the CSS from your blog
This step can be skipped if you are familiar with CSS. Apply any changes you've made, view your blog and right-click on the page. Select "View Page Sorce", select all text and save it in a text editor (such as Notepad or jEdit, but NOT MS Word). The text will have a mix of markup and code, but you're looking for just CSS. Scroll until you see this:

/*-----------------------------------------------
Blogger Template Style
Name:     Picture Window
Designer: Josh Peterson
URL:      www.noaesthetic.com
----------------------------------------------- */

That's where the template style starts. If you picked a different template, it will say something different but look basically the same. Delete everything above this. As you scroll down, you will see a lot of named variables next:

<Group description="Page Text" selector="body">
<Variable name="body.font" description="Font" type="font"
default="normal normal 15px Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif"/>
<Variable name="body.text.color" description="Text Color" type="color" default="#333333"/>
Group>
<Group description="Backgrounds" selector=".body-fauxcolumns-outer">
<Variable name="body.background.color" description="Outer Background" type="color" default="#296695"/>
<Variable name="header.background.color" description="Header Background" type="color" default="transparent"/>
<Variable name="post.background.color" description="Post Background" type="color" default="#ffffff"/>
Group>

You don't need those either. The next part is the actual CSS. It looks like this:

/* Content
----------------------------------------------- */
body {
font: normal normal 15px Cambria;
color: #114499;
}
html body .region-inner {
min-width: 0;
max-width: 100%;
width: auto;
}

You can tell it's CSS by the lines with only "}" on them. Keep scrolling down until the CSS ends and you see a bunch of listed divs. They look like this:

<div class='body-fauxcolumns'>
<div class='fauxcolumn-outer body-fauxcolumn-outer'>
<div class='cap-top'>
<div class='cap-left'>div>
<div class='cap-right'>div>
div>
<div class='fauxborder-left'>
<div class='fauxborder-right'>div>
<div class='fauxcolumn-inner'>
div>

 Everything from here on out you don't need. 

4. Inspect your blog 
Go to the browser's menu, select "developer tools" and then "inspect". The page should go dark, and as you roll your mouse across the page, it will highlight the different elements. Since I want to change the header background, I rolled over the header until the entire thing was selected. 

Be certain to get the entire section you want to change highlighted. Elements are layered over one another, so selecting the wrong one is easy. when you have it highlighted, it will show a text box on top with its name. In my case, the name is "div#header-inner".

5. Search the text file

Use "find" to search for the element you want to change. Copy the name and everything inside the brackets, as well as the brackets themselves. If more than one name is mentioned before the brackets, then you would be better off typing up the CSS instead of copying it. Multiple names means the rules are affecting multiple sections of your blog. Unless you want to change all of those sections, you'll have to write up the CSS yourself. 

6. Add the CSS to your blog

In the template designer, under the advanced option, scroll down and click the "Add CSS" option. You'll see a textbox to the right, which is where you add your CSS. Either paste or write your new rules here. You should see the page changing in the window below. Because I wanted to change the background of the header to match the background of the blog, this is what I put in:

#header-inner{

background: url(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsJ1MWPsfsGaFU9ic6ZiFuHYUOo_szkaZ8bQxbKJhklq8x3gvlzBJHalD5A2YarjNoBXZA5taVWLO96FRCb5WlkZ2OnP5AsEOkNDN8AbhDrfHlao04sovPYrTpGr7atmj5DUXmLmFKvQ/s1600/blogbackground.jpg) -400px, 500px;

} 

 The link references the same location where the background is stored. Any picture will have to be referenced in this way, but only use pictures that are yours or free for public use. 

Repeat the last three steps to change anything that you want on your blog. I'll give a lot of examples of what you can change in the next post.

 

How Not to Suck at Street Racing Games

I would have picked out a particular series, but I think the basic principles apply to all of them. Street racing games, often referred to as Arcade Racers, are high octane thrill rides taking place in city streets. The responsible ones will warn you that street racing is both illegal and deadly, then go on to spend hours glorifying it. But anyways! Here are some tips for playing these game successfully.

1. Forget Physics
A common frustration that gamers face regarding arcade racers is the independent interpretations of physics. Though differing slightly in each game, removing the rules of physics makes for a better race. You will be going faster than you should, turning faster than you should, and overall defying logic and reason while taking little to no damage. It's freeing, really.

2. Never Use the Brakes
This is an overstatement, because occasionally you may want to tap them, in order to slide around a corner. Because of the lack of physics, you don't have to be concerned that you are turning an SUV while going 90. It may seem like the right choice to slow down to a reasonable speed while threading between cars on the digital interstate, swerving from lane to lane as you race toward that glowing yellow smoke, but resist. No guts, no glory.

3. Use Walls to Turn
This sounds counter-intuitive, and it's not the best way to race, but it can work in a pinch. The way that the cars take damage and accelerate allow you to gun it on a straight away, turn hard but wide, hit the wall, accelerate and stay in the lead. A better strategy is to use a rival car to turn. They are going to (probably) turn responsibly, and they won't slow you down as much as a wall. Turn tighter than a rival car, sideswipe them to knock your car into the right direction, and speed ahead. It works very often.

4. Crash Early
This is an inconsistent rule, but it's worth a try. In my experience, older games will have a better success rate. If you flounder at the beginning, running into things and generally sucking, it can slow down the AI of the other cars. This is true in other racing games like SSX as well. Sandbag at the beginning, then race as solidly as you can till the end. I came across this strategy accidentally, as I would be racing so perfectly that the AI seemed impossible to beat. If I happened to crash early on the same course, I found myself winning by a wide margin. Maybe this is coincidence, but it works for me.

5. Don't Spend Your Money
You're going to have a lot of it, and a lot of options. Usually you start with a crap car and slowly race against better cars, and therefore require better cars. Regardless of the specific set-up, try your best to avoid buying any cars or upgrading your car until you absolutely must. I have often poured money into a car only to realize that I will need to buy something completely different to succeed in the next race.

...Did I Mention Forget Physics?
I can't stress enough that you need to boldly try anything that seems vaguely possible, no matter how improbable. Smash through glass walls to take shortcuts through buildings, try pieces of concrete that almost resemble ramps, drive anywhere it will let you drive. Cut through parking lots, parks, and, in Midnight Club 3 Dub Edition, run into trees. You would think this would slow you down, but instead this is the secret to success. The most important rule in street racing is to go fast and win.

Elder Scrolls Online

I'm not saying they are the best games, but there's a nicotinian quality to Elder Scrolls. Maybe it's because you can play for 20 hours without realizing you haven't done anything for the main story line. Maybe its the inherent random feel of the environment, glitches and all. Maybe it's the inner hoarder, stuffing cabinets and dressers with every imaginable variation of every item. Whatever it is, Elder Scrolls has it. I purposely stopped playing Skyrim because... well, Its hard to imagine why now, but I know it was the right thing to do. I still saw my family and all that, but I did bring it to Thanksgiving. And maybe Christmas. Anywho, I say all that to say this:

There will be an Elder Scrolls Online. I don't know when it comes out, I don't know what it's about, I don't know what I will have to pay to play it or how good or bad it will be. And I don't care to know. Because it doesn't matter. I don't care if its not a logically viable decision in hindsight or even foresight, because this is how I feel about the announcement:

Melted Crayon Juice

I buy Bolthouse Juice all the time, because washing a juicer sucks. The green juice is our house favorite, but its fun to try different varieties from time to time. The one I tried today was called Orange + Carrot.
I know that it may seem silly to say this, but I always felt that I knew what the color orange tasked like. Like an orange, the fruit. But I was wrong. An orange tastes like an orange. A carrot tastes like a carrot. Somehow together, in this juice, they taste like the color orange.  I mean that in a great way; the way you dream a melted orange crayon would taste in magical childhood land (if you ever dreamed such things). And I don't think it's just because the two foods in it are orange. Adding a sweet potato would certainly ruin it.

Portal 2

A few thoughts about Portal 2:

I never played the first Portal, but never heard anything bad about it. Portal is often referenced in discussions about gaming as the good example to model from. After deciding to get Blockbuster's game pass, I scanned my local store for a game to rent while I wait for fall releases. I saw Portal 2 on the shelf and decided it was time.

I was a fool to wait so long. The premise of the game allows them to legitimize a very linear story, but that story is exceptionally crafted. Though you can listen to the voices narrating to you, the scope and history of the story can be discovered in posters and the decaying lobbies. There is a crafty indirect way that you are told the story in the beginning, and my only disappointment is that it seems a little too direct as the story progresses, but even that can be legitimized within the framework of the game.

Because there are few voices in the game, and you travel through different parts of the facility that is now abandoned, it can feel very lonely. I moved at a pretty good clip, but the loneliness of the quieter parts of the game pressured me to look for walkthroughs, hoping I would meet with some companionship again. That's a kind of sissy thing to say, but its true nonetheless. The mood in the game is very effective, and very lonely.

Edit note: I wrote this a while ago but didn't publish it, so the date is inaccurate. This was from last year.

Batman Sidenote

Even deBlob lets you decide so save or not save people. I'm beyond frustration as the last hour or more has been spent trying to break the ice without dying in Batman. I'm in some sort of ballroom, which has been sealed, filled with water, and contains a shark. Even for a world of superheros and villains, this is on the edge of practical.

I think that this game can be painfully linear at times, making you feel like someone is holding your hand, dragging you from one activity to the next. But then, to make it seem like they tried to make a good game, they randomly and abruptly let go of your hand, but with no proper context. This was my issue with Uncharted as well. Sometimes, the puzzle solving is good and sometimes, they merely give you no hints and leave you in a room till you make the correct assumption. I think that this is lazy and uninspired puzzle creation. Instead of crafting a puzzle that is complex, they make a simple one with no context.

Now, having died 20 (literally 20) times, I'm sick of this mediocre game event, and I can't leave the room either. The rest of this game isn't difficult, so surely I'm missing something here.

...I can batclaw the raft? Maybe it's because I've been playing Portal (where good puzzles come from), maybe it's because I just assumed that such a juvenile level of problem solving would be unheard of, but yeah. I can batclaw the raft. 400 riddler trophies, but I can batclaw the raft.

Edit: This was a draft from when I was playing Batman a while back. So, the date it a bit misleading but here it is. 

Free Time

My time is basically my own these days, but lately I've dedicated most of it to final home improvements. Our house is now on the market. I'm working on another blog detailing the improvements we've made in the last three years. Many of them have taken place in the last three months.

Before that, I was learning a handful of programming languages (mostly Ruby), assuming that I would attempt freelance work in that field. My intent has not changed, but for now I am working on HTML5, CSS3, PHP, MySQL, and maybe a touch of JavaScript. I have a friend who programs apps in Objective C, and I can see why he is such an asset at his company. I researched Objective C to see if I'd want to learn it, and the answer was an emphatic and definite "NO." It was suggested that one should know Java or C++ and be familiar with C and maybe know some corresponding frameworks before taking on Objective C, and then after that, you would be ready for iOS programming. I've certainly learned languages without the suggested prerequisites, but I don't have a Mac (which seems to be preferred), so I decided to stick to what I can do with the computers I have for free.

In terms of gaming, there hasn't been much to write here because I haven't played much. I would like to get the Vita, but that will have to wait until we sell our house. The Blockbuster pass has been excellent, except for the two months I had to wait for SSX. I think I will buy it on PS3 simply because of how much SSX I played on PS2. Playing on 360 feels unnatural in comparison. But on either system, it feels like SSX 4, which has been a long time coming. On Tour and Blur were bad spin-offs.

Our PS3 was upstairs until recently, when moving around furniture caused it to end up in our bedroom. Mod Nation Racers was still inside, from months (or years?) ago when I bought it. I started playing it and realized  had never beaten it. This was after a long break from gaming, which must have invigorated my gaming prowess. I quickly conquered the rest of the game. The only other game I'm working on is Ghost Recon on 3DS. I beat it on easy, now I'm trying again on hard.

I don't think these count, but I'm playing Draw Something, Words with Friends, and Angry Birds Space on my phone. We also took up DnD 4e, which is like playing Skyrim with a pencil and paper. And on that note, Skyrim is still amazing and will have Kinect integration soon... so we'll be getting a Kinect soon.