Cash Crate

Don't knock this stuff, I've been on it for about two hours and made $22.50. If you have nothing better to do than to sit on your ass filling out surveys, then this is easy money. Also, you can refer other people, and make money off of them making money. Which is what I'm trying to do now. So try it out, and we'll all make some spending money.

http://www.cashcrate.com/2337158

Medal of Honor Beta, continued...

I've been playing the MoH beta recently, and the gameplay is kinda solid. And that irks me, because a few things could be done to make it better. For one, bring over the 'Point Spawn' system from BC2. That was useful, because choosing 'Front Line' as a spawn point is vague. And stupid. Expect to die a lot spawning on the front line. Second, make the text NOT have lens flare. I can't read a goddamned thing unless I stare up into the sky at the right angle. Third, make the radar bigger, and make it so I can actually tell what's going on. And finally, give me some more weapons and classes! I know, I know, it's just a beta. But I play a beta to see whether or not I'll be buying the game (in addition to bug-finding and such). The game I played is worth $20, tops. And even then I'd wait for it to go on sale. And though they tout the single player as the most realistic, and they consulted all the experts, at the end of the day, multiplayer is where the staying power is. And as it stands, BC2 and MW2 are miles ahead. Which brings me to my final point about MoH: use the goddamn Title and Emblem system from MW2! For fuck's sake, everyone should be doing this. The customization of CoD games recently has been incredible. And I want to be rewarded for my headshots/killstreaks/cool things I do. And I want to show off those rewards. That's why I played MW2 for about 9 straight days worth of gameplay. It certainly wasn't because I liked getting knifed by 12 year olds...

Medal of Honor

Maybe work on the balance a bit, guys. Those killstreaks are downright retarded. Also, the gameplay is bland, the maps are horrific, and there's no real "meaty" sense of hitting someone with (or being hit by) bullets.

PS: I'm PicoSuarez.

Linux, and Why I'm Retarded.

Never mind, you guys. Turns out updates are actually important in Linux.

GEE HOW SWELL.

I may never return to Windows. Except for gaming...

Linux, And Why People Won't Use It

Set up a server for Minecraft on a Netbook copy of Linux. I dare you. There's a lot of shit you have to wade through. Linux is a balance of convenience and utter self-mutilation. So make sure you know what the hell you're doing before you format and reinstall with Linux. Maybe just boot it in a virtual machine. Or just over an old laptop like I did. I'd go so far as to say that using Linux is rewarding. But it's not easy. And I can't game on it. Linux is useful for about one thing (to me): running a Minecraft server. And I have to jump through some goddamn hoops to do it.

Apparently, we have a free money opportunity on our hands.

http://www.paybox.me/r/picosuarez

They give you money for referring people, and just for being a part of it. If nothing else, you get 50 bucks on signup. Why not give it a try?

Something Important, For A Change

Some of you may have noticed that I put up a new banner (but I doubt it). The video game voters network isn't an ad for money. It isn't some scam to make me a quick buck every time you guys look at my page. This is a serious thing that I care about. The Video Game Voters Network is a campaign for video game equality. Video games are the progression of media, taking the place of books and movies. If you don't believe me (and you're over 12 years old), think back to how many books you used to read before you got that SNES or Nintendo 64 or Playstation. Now think about how many books you've read in the past two years.

Yeah.

Now, video games are receiving the same treatment books and movies got in the past, insomuch as they are 'to blame' for the world's violence, and 'the cause' of all evil in this world. But we know better. The VGVN is working to change that view, and make video games universally accepted forms of entertainment (Amish community nonwithstanding), and they need our support. If ever you threw a fist gloriously into the air at the end of a level; if ever you screamed at the gods themselves after dying for the four hundredth time; if ever you wept openly when Aeris died, let you now make your voice heard!

http://www.videogamevoters.org/

PS: Spoiler alert, if anyone still exists that doesn't know what happened in Final Fantasy 7.

Minecraft

Seriously, you guys. Seriously. This game is incredible, it's made by one dude, and it's 13 stupid dollars.

Let me break this down for you. This crazy 8-bit world is inhabited by zombies, skeletons, giant spiders, and you. Oh, and farm animals. Oh, and any of your friends who want to play online with you. Personal and public servers means that you can play with your buds, or just make some online friends. Or troll the shit out of people. The emphasis of this game is on emergent gameplay. You start with nothing, but soon, you have a little dirt hut to keep the monsters out. Then, when the cleansing fire of the sun kills off the enemy, you exit and begin to explore, and build, and mine. See, the best part of Minecraft isn't even on the surface. Seems obvious, but the meat of this game lies under the crust. Once you dig down a bit, you find caves. VAST caves. Caves that you can get lost in. That you will get lost in. Mining is everything in this game. Day one sees you in a hole in the ground, listening to the moans of zombies and the clacking of skeletons, and wondering if all you've done is dug yourself a tomb. Day two sees new knowledge, and the crafting of new and exciting tools. Day three breaks over your mighty new castle, as you stand atop it, staring defiantly into the horizon over a moat of lava.And day one hundred marks the beginning of your unemployment, or failed classes, or the dead of your friendships. This game is fucking addictive like you dream of. And once you play this, you'll understand why it's the best 13 dollars you ever spent. Until your electricity bill goes unpaid. Again.

Go on. Buy it.

Google Scribe: for when you need to blog, but not make sense.

 http://scribe.googlelabs.com/

Example: As a result of the work of the United States and Canada. The authors are grateful to the following conditions are met and the application of the law of the land and the people who are not in any way that suggests that they endorse you. Page 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful to you by way of example only and do not want to be related to each other and the local community. Furthermore the author is not available for this item with others in our community and the world of the living room and dining.

Totally neat, the way it works. Found it from my friend Free from Iceland.

Man, I'm Behind (Dead Rising 2)

Forgot another thing! Good lord, I'll never take a break again.

PLAY DEAD RISING 2. My goodness. This game has everything. Zombies, fighting, millions of items, casinos, boobies, motorcycles, psychopaths, duct-tape, killing machines crafted from duct-tape, a parasol in a leaf-blower that is used as a charge/stab weapon, and fedoras. EVERYTHING.

You guys. Play it.

PS: Unforgivable boss fights. Classic Capcom.

Path of Exile

I forgot to mention this sweet game that's in development. Did you ever wonder how Diablo 2 and Final Fantasy VII would be if they merged? Check this, bro. It goes into beta in January, and they're planning to let in people who are active on the forums. So get in on this, because it should be great.

Path of Exile

New Keyboard

My Logitech G15 is reaching the end of its days, as I may have mentioned. To go into further detail, the right shift key is sticky beyond the point of repair, the screen is cracked, and my spacebar key is being difficult. I can't find the same keyboard for under $100 (they have similar ones, but the screen doesn't flip up...), so I'm looking around for another. Mayhaps the G110 (http://www.logitech.com/en-us/keyboards/keyboard/devices/5902). There are a lot of good features on this board, and I love the blue backlight option for matching my case fan LEDs (I am so vain.). Hit me with some suggestions or opinions, because this purchase needs to happen soon.

Happy birthday!

To that most hated/favorite site of mine. You know who you are, brothers.

Justin Beiber: Faggy, or faggiest?

“I feel like the Kurt Cobain of my generation, but people just don't understand me.” Justin Beiber said this. God. Fucking. Dammit. THE NERVE! The fucking gall of this, this child, this fucking cookie cutter pop star, to think he could compare himself to... Let me compose myself for a second.


...


Alright. This is actually good, because it's made me realize that I'm ALSO the Kurt Cobain of my generation, because I want to shoot the 'Kurt Cobain of my generation' in the fucking face.

Heavy Sigh Incoming

I am officially to the point where I need a job, as in super hardcore need. For all you young folk out there, I highly recommend not blowing your Freshman year of college being a jackass and going to parties, especially if you don't have wealthy parents. Then again, if you're a freshman in college, you won't listen to me anyhow. You'll just do the same goddamned thing I did. And young people need to trim their sideburns, and wear belts, I remember back in my day... *ramble*

Ugh, The Past Is Haunting

I left out a lot of games on my top five, but I'm not going to correct it. The thing is, that's what I thought at the time, and it stands as a testament to the fact that I love more games than I can remember in one sitting. As I sat on the apartment balcony, this became quite clear. My roommate and I composed a huge list of great games, which we swore to play through once more. And here I am, re-running through Oblivion, after my vanquishing of Bowser in Super Mario World. Good times, friends. Good times.

Excellency in Indie Game Projects

https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&page=1

These are school projects from Digipen, a fancy game-makin' school in Washington. I have already clicked MANY of these, and a lot of them kick ass. I especially recommend Froggle.

Top Five Video Games

Here we go, nothing else to say. No particular order, again.

1. Fallout 2.
-Holy cow, the mother of darkly humored, in-depth RPGs. If you haven't played it, play it. Get it on Good Old Games.
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
-Bitch as much as you want, this game is as close as you can get to a perfect (non-squad-based) FPS.
3. Pokemon Silver/Gold
-Okay, wait. I loved Pokemon Red and Blue, but they're just included in Silver and Gold. And shit just got made better. And they didn't turn all the Pokemon into gay robots yet.
4. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
-Good gameplay, fantastic storyline. I don't go back to any game as much as I go back to this. Alternately, San Andreas could take this spot. I'd almost give it to San Andreas, but I hate having too much stuff to do for 100%. I am a completionist whore on video games, and San Andreas had way too much random crap.
5. Skate 2
-Not since Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 have I loved a skateboarding game this much. Excellent concept, worked spectacularly.
6. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
-WHAT?! A sixth one? Yes. I can't go without including this game. The only good stealth game ever made, besides perhaps Thief.

Some honorable mentions include Unreal Tournament 2k4, Starcraft 1 and 2, Half Life, World of Warcraft (yes...), and many others. I should have just made a top 100 list. But there you have it.

Rush Radio

A guy I know runs a site called Rush Radio, which is pretty much what you'd expect from a title. He links to Rush and credits their songs, and basically puts out a free Rush radio station. Give it a listen, because it's pretty good.

www.rushradio.org

The Strangeness of 'The Top Five'

I hate picking things for overall lists. Generally, everything I like has its own merits, and it's difficult to pick from such a huge list (especially music and video games, which is pretty much everything I care about). Plus, some albums or games get lost in my memory, and resurface much later. But I will try.

Top Five Albums (in no order)
1. NOFX - Punk in Drublic
-Just good old fashioned angry punk, with some politics tossed in.
2. System of a Down - Toxicity
-Pretty much my first really good album. Got it at the time I started finding music outside of the mainstream.
3. Megadeth - Rust in Peace
-Sterling drumwork, and maybe one of my favorite albums from the era. Prime example of old metal.
4. Blink-182 - Blink-182 (Tied with Take Off Your Pants And Jacket)
-Very experimental, in every regard: new lyrical direction, revamped sonically, and the drumwork was strange and fantastic, without getting stupid and unlistenable.
5. Lamb of God - Ashes of the Wake (Only because I can't say 'All their albums')
-The best American metal to exist. Period.

Come back in a bit when I do Top Five Video Games.

Haters Gonna Hate

http://ionvash.blogspot.com/2010/09/wow-asshole-is-really-trying-to-get-me.html

Really, now, internet. Why you so pissed off about blogger money?

Oh, And If You Like Metal...

Go to this guy's blog. It's pretty excellent, and he reviews and refers to a lot of good metal. I'm following him, and you should to.

http://allthingsmaedia.blogspot.com/

When I Was Younger

When I was but a lad of 16, I had a lot of anger, and (like most teens) no real reason for it. Regardless, I read The Anarchist's Cookbook a lot, and learned many interesting and dangerous recipes and concepts. I lived in a small town, so I had no real targets for Anarchy, and it would have been easy to get caught, but I reveled in the thought of the crazy chaos I could cause. I can't find my old copy, but I highly recommend it if you've ever wanted to make nitroglycerin in a bathtub, or wondered how best to prepare napalm. As with anything of this nature, I am not even close to being held responsible for your actions, and I heartily recommend not using the information in the book for evil. But if you fuck up a toilet or something in an abandoned building, no harm no foul, I guess.

Bustin' Caps ITT

The AMT Automag II .22 Magnum. It's a classy gun, and I happen to somewhat own one. And I'm thin on content now, so I'll just type anything. I've run about 25 rounds through the gun, and I got it from my father a month ago, who put about 25 through it himself, so it's in pretty good condition. I'm really pleased with it, but it has a small issue with jamming. Some ammo jams in it, but .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire runs through beautifully.

... This isn't going anywhere, really. I'm just talking about something important to me. No moral, no recommendation, really. If you find one, grab it, it's a great gun. Fairly cheap, pretty effective.

Online Classes

Online classes begin today! Fortunately, I have a wife who loves history, and a friend who hates math. What this means is that I'll do his math homework in exchange for the completion of my psychology quizzes, and my wife will do my history quizzes because she has a fondness for the subject. So I just do double shifts on College Algebra, oh no. So wish me luck as I reduce fractions and solve equations that I did in Freshman year of high school.

Dungeons and Dragons

3.5 is the best thing to ever happen to DnD. Why? Because that's what I played. Every DnD player has a hatred for at least one version of DnD, usually the one that came out after the one they play. No one likes to learn new rules. I'm lobbying for the retraction of DnD 4E, and the permanent stopping of all production of non-3.5 works. Get back to what I love, Wizards of the Coast.

PS: Magic the Gathering sucks ass now.

Steal This Post

Ever hear of 'Steal This Book'? Well, you can find it on the internet for free, ironically, and it's a damn good read. Keep that hippie spirit alive by reading this book. If nothing else, it's worth a chuckle.

Also, thanks to 'I am me' for reminding me about this excellent read. His blog is at http://theamazingblogofme.blogspot.com/


Check him out, as he is keeping the movement going.

Starcraft II, or How Video Games Can Improve

I'm going to post some more interesting crap here so that you readers might feel like you aren't wasting your time. So here goes:

I play Starcraft II. Let me rephrase that: I have played Starcraft II. I love the game, but it's so hard to play it consistently. In this day and age, a video game needs a lot to keep the player hooked. Portraits do a bang-up job... until about 100 wins. After that, it's hard to stay hooked through the next 150 wins. But then there are achievements, which make you feel pretty great... until you realize they're all pretty basic; nothing is rewarded that is impressive, really. I love the hell out of Modern Warfare 2's Title and Emblem system. Doing cool things is rewarded with shiny icons and titles to make you feel like a special snowflake, even though millions of others have them. That has spoiled me. Keeping me hooked until 2500 kills on one weapon is rare, but when I know I'll get a Title that shows my passion for the weapon is all I need. Starcraft II would be very difficult to apply this to. Getting kills using a certain unit is somewhat silly to reward, but that's not to say I wouldn't do it for a trophy of some sort. Any other thing worth tracking is just silly. Buildings destroyed? Piff. That's not worth my time, it's a side effect. I have no qualms with the game; I love it. I'm just saying that they have a harder time keeping gamers hooked. And frankly, I'll be playing a lot more Modern Warfare 2 because of it. After all, only 30 more headshots and my P90 is camouflaged. Speaking of, I'm out of here. I have to answer the Call of Duty.

Dreamweaver: Easy money, or easiest money?

So I'm working with Dreamweaver, you guys. It's a pretty easy program, and website development is quite lucrative. I'd highly recommend getting the demo and fooling around with it. Protip: buy templates. They're about $15 for fancy ones, and you can use them as many times as you want. And a good site can easily make $1000+. So pick up that demo, because what I'm telling you is valid. Five days of work for that much green... Someone do the math on that for me.

In it for da paper.

Makin' that bank is important.