XIII [Winning Wednesday]

Back in 2003 I purchased a game called "XIII" and didn't really know much about the background of it. I was drawn to it by its unique cell-shaded style. After playing through the game I was totally enthralled by it. The game itself is based on the first five volumes of a Franco-Belgiam comic series by the same name. Last Sunday (Feb. 8th), NBC began a two part mini-series based on the same comic. Needless to say I was very interested when I saw the previews for it.

The basic premise of the game/mini-series is a man with no memory, awakes to find himself accused of assassinating the President of the United States and is being hunted by the US government. Although his memory is lost, all of his training and instincts are in tact. Throughout the series he must regain his memories and prove his innocence. If you're thinking this storyline sounds a lot like Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Identity, that's because the writer Jean Van Hamme (art by William Vance) was inspired by Ludlum's book.

I just finished watching part 1 via Hulu and have to say this is definitely worth checking out. The final part of the mini-series is on NBC next Sunday from 9pm to 11pm (at least on the west coast) and stars Val Kilmer (as The Mongoose) and Stephen Dorff (as XIII).

If you missed part one its available on Hulu: XIII mini-series part 1 and NBC.com (requires installation of a plug-in).

Winning Wednesday: Twitter

So most people by now have heard about Twitter. For those that haven't, in a nutshell its a "micro-blogging" service that allows you to shoot "what you're doing" into cyberspace. You can subscribe (follow) to anyone's tweets and get updates in a variety of ways. There are several client applications available for a variety of platforms.

I had heard about Twitter for months, but just chocked it up to being a Facebook status updater. I've been using it now for about two months and I have to say I am addicted. Its a lot of fun, most of the time people make rhetorical posts and aren't expecting a response. People are using the service to not only update people on what they are doing, but also to get important announcements, savings opportunities, and even political information. If you are interested in a particular subject or company, you can follow their PR person's tweets and get real-time updates on what's going on. Here is a list put together by Sam Houston(@samhouston) of gamerDNA (snagged from @fourzerotwo) that lists gaming companies on twitter. You never know who you'll find with a little searching.

Here are a few tips to people who may be new on twitter:

• if you see the at symbol (e.g. @ignium) that is reffering to someone's twitter username (and is usually a hyperlink, just click to go to their profile).
• you can send someone a reply by using @username
• if you want to send someone a direct message that no one else can see (similar to a text message) type d in front of the username then your message (e.g. d ignium Hey!).
• if you want to "group" posts from multiple users together start a "hatch tag", and example of this is people at airports wanting to know what other people at airports are doing used #boardingLAX. This grouped all the posts of people boarding at LAX together.
• the official list of twitter commands is HERE.

If you have any questions feel free to leave it in the comments or shoot me an email or tweet me (http://twitter.com/ignium). I also post my tweets on the sidebar of this page.

To my surprise I received this email earlier today (I'm sure he follows all of his followers).

More info about twitter:

Twitter Wikipedia page

About Twitter page

Winning Wednesday: Starbucks' Bella Vista

This is my all time favorite coffee. It was discontinued a few years back (I think around 2003) and I'm so happy that it's back!

It's called Costa Rica Bella Vista F.W. Tres Rios (phew...), and is categorized as a medium roast. It is a really "bright" (high acidity) coffee so it pairs well with citrusy foods that complement its acidity, like lemon bars or strawberries. I love the first sip of Bella Vista in the morning, you literally feel the coffee lift your ears (its hard to describe). This coffee is great no matter how its made, but is of course at its best when made in a French press (paper filters tend to trap the coffee beans' oil which is where the flavor is).

Here is the "official" description:

"In the rolling hills outside San Jose, this coffee is cultivated on one of the region's oldest and last remaining estates. Guided by a proud tradition of quality and the long-term support of Starbucks, the owners have perfected time-honored farming methods to harvest and process the beans right on the estate, and established social programs to improve the farmers' livelihoods. Always a favorite in our tasting room, Bella Vista is surprisingly complex with a satisfying citrus sparkle, floral notes evocative of orange blossoms and a refreshing finish."

My description:

"It's delicious!"

So next time you are at Starbucks pick up a pound or two (I don't think they brew it as the coffee of the day) or at least ask the barista to sample the coffee. You'll be glad you did.

Winning Wednesday: SSF2THDR

Ahhh... this game brings me back. Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is exactly what it says, a remake of the old Street Fighter II with updated graphics and "more balanced" characters (exempt Cammy who now apparently has super powers). It features the original eight characters, the four boss characters, and the four added characters from Super Street Fighter II. The added online play is a nice addition and seems to work flawlessly. It is sometimes hard to find a "quick match", but if you host a match it usually takes only a few seconds to find an opponent. On the downside its not possible to just invite a friend and play them directly. You can get around this by hosting a player match and then inviting them. You'll end up playing with strangers also, but you actually get to watch the fight of the people who are playing. The biggest draw back is not the games fault, but the crappy US Xbox controller's D-Pad. Once you get used to it the game is definitely worth the points. Available for 1200 MSP ($15) on Xbox LIVE arcade.

Winning Wednesday: The Target Demographic

Last Friday night we had one of my wife's former co-workers, Bekah, and her husband Wayne over for some dinner and gaming. As we got to talking I found out that Wayne and I had a lot in common (almost to an eerie degree). During our conversation I found out he does a weekly podcast with some friends called The Target Demographic. The subject matter runs the gamut from movies to music to gaming all from the perspective of those in their respective medium's target demographic (males ages 25-34). I subscribed and had a listen. I have to say its quite entertaining and I really appreciate the lack of BS fluff (as$ kissing, "advertisement interviews", etc) that fills some of the studio's and developer's podcasts. You should check it out if you have an opportunity, heck even if you don't have an opportunity you should check it out.

The Target Demographic Website

The Target Demographic Show #39 (latest show as of this post)

Winning Wednesday: Stuff White People Like

My parents got this book for me for my birthday and I have to say its pretty funny.  Its a satire of well... Stuff White People Like, and is writen as a guide for non-white people who want to make white friends.  While the target of the parody is the liberal white person, even moderate and conservative people can get a laugh out of it.  Consistently while reading the book I either laughed because I was "caught" or snikered to myself because "I knew exactly who he's talking about".  

Give it a looksy and I think you'll find it entertaining.  Included in the book are also fill-in-the-blank "form letters" to make it easy to bond with a white person and a few quizzes to help determine your "whiteness".  The book is written by Christian Lander, and he also has a blog called Stuff White People Like.

Links:

Book on Amazon.com

Book's website

Stuff White People Like Blog

Winning Wednesday: Heroes

Monday night was the premiere of season three, and it didn't disappoint. If you haven't watched Heroes and don't know what the hype is all about, you don't know what you're missing out on. I was a bit skeptical about the show and only saw one or two episodes in the middle of the first season. I had seen other shows with superhero types a la Smallville and the like, and didn't really enjoy them. Our friends were really into it and I ended up getting season one for Christmas. My wife and I devoured it, watching at least four episodes a night (that's right I said my wife, its not just a "guys show"). As soon as possible we purchased season two and did the same. Heroes manages to keep you on your toes, telling the story of each of the characters and how they are tied together (think Lost, but with superpowers). If you haven't been watching it, I think it might be pretty tough to try and jump in now without any background. Go to Blockbuster or Netflix and rent disc one of season one and I guarantee that by the end of it you'll be hooked.

Heroes is on NBC Monday nights at 9pm and is rebroadcast on G4 Tuesday at 10pm.

Winning Wednesday: Rock Band 2

My birthday is coming up, but we'll be out of town on a camping trip when the day arrives. Because of this, our friends gave me my birthday present when they came over for dinner on Monday night. Nestled under a bag of brownie mix (I think wrapping paper is for suckas!), was Rock Band 2 for the Xbox 360!

Now the game itself is not that differant from the first Rock Band, but there are a few adjustments that were welcome. First, they have added the ability to play the World Tour as a solo act. A big chunk of the achievements in the first game were aquired in World Tour, but you had to have more than one person playing. This posed a problem since, when we had people over and played, we wanted to just play for the sake of having fun (i.e., pick the songs we were going to play), therefore, I barely have any points from that game.

Next, the ability to have one character play any instruments. If you have ever played the first one, you know that creating a character to represent you is a lot of fun. It just gets annoying when you have to create a new character when you want to go from guitar to drums.

Finally, the track list. WOW! The developers were thoughtful enough to take the time to create the ability to import the on-disc tracks from Rock Band 1 into Rock Band 2. Couple that with the fact that all downloaded songs from the first game also work in the second and the 84 track on-disc track list (<--yes... that is Alanis Morissette) of the second game and you are talking about something for everyone!

Winning Wednesday: Fantastic Contraption

Things had been a little slow at work the past couple of weeks and in between having things to do, I was getting a little bored. By sheer coincidence fourzerotwo sent a tweet about a flash game he'd been checking out. I decided to give it a try.

It's called Fantastic Contraption and is a physics based puzzle game. Don't be frightened by the word physics, the only physics involved is the force of gravity. The gist of the game is that you have only five "materials" to build a machine within a certain space, and your machine must move a red object into a the red area of the screen. The trial version has 20 puzzles to try and you can save and link to them if you really like your creation and want to show it off. Another cool feature is that once you've solved the puzzle you can view other people's solutions (they can be pretty crazy). Here is one of my solutions.  Give it a try: http://www.fantasticcontraption.com.  If you come up with something you want to share post the link in the comment section.

stretch your noodle

I didn't post for winning Wednesday yesterday, so consider this yesterday's post :)

Several months back, my wife told me about a riddle website that she was getting into. It involved a increasingly difficult "riddles" and you could not proceed to the next "level" until you figured out the current puzzle. I decided to try too. It was very frustrating, but at the same time very fulfilling. I turned some people at work on to it and we all had a bit of a competition going to see who could get the farthest. I ended up getting about halfway through the third set (level 45) and got stuck. I ended up forgetting about it, but came across the bookmark today. I decided I'd start over and see if I could get any farther. I challenge you to try it out for yourself, during my lunch I got back to level 28 (but remember I'd done them before, so it was a matter of remembering how to solve them). Give it a shot and try not to bleed out of your ears!

http://weffriddles.com (Don't say I didn't warn you!!!)

Too human... too repetative

I apologize before hand to those of you who know (or especially married to) someone who enjoys the field of interactive entertainment (video games). Its something I really enjoy as a chance to exercise problem solving and cooperation. I recently picked up the game Too Human. It is basically nerd fare, as it involves an elite soldier who is revered as a god and is set in Norse mythology. Its actually a pretty cool story (I was really into some of the Roman/Greek mythology as a kid). However, the game itself starts out pretty fun, as you hack and slash through wave after wave of robot attackers. The problem is that after five hours of game play, you are still doing the same thing. I was originally pretty excited by the game, but now its been put on the "Just pass it to get it over with" list. Seriously... I haven't had this much fun since I separated ten pounds of M&Ms by color... (consumer science project). If you haven't picked it up... don't! Just rent it.